A  GUIDE  TO 
THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 


DR.  MARIA  MONTESSORI 


A  GUIDE  TO 


THE 


MONTESSORI  METHOD 


BY 

ELLEN  YALE  STEVENS 

V 

WITH   FOUR   ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW    YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
MCMXIII 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of  translation  into  foreign 
languages,  including  the  Scandinavian 


February,  1913 


PRESS. YORK*  PA 


DEDICATED 

BY   PERMISSION  TO 

PROFESSOR  JOHN  DEWEY 

WHO  BY   HIS  TEACHING   AND   WRITING   HAS   PREPARED 

THE    MINDS   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE 

TO   RECEIVE   THE   THEORIES 

OF   DR.   MONTESSORI 


258650 


PREFACE 

IT  is  more  than  twelve  years  ago  that  an 
illuminating  course  in  Educational  Psychol- 
ogy which  I  took  under  Professor  John 
Dewey,  then  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
directed  what  had  until  that  time  been  on 
my  part  only  a  general  interest  in  psychology, 
toward  the  specific  question  of  the  relation 
of  various  educational  theories  to  the  truths 
of  child  psychology.  The  interest  so  direct- 
ed was  further  stimulated  by  my  relations 
with  Professor  Thorndike  of  the  Teacher's 
College  in  connection  with  his  courses  in 
methods  there.  The  subsequent  years  of 
experience  as  principal  of  a  school  which 
includes  a  kindergarten  and  primary  depart- 
ment in  its  curriculum,  and  as  a  teacher  of 
elementary  psychology  to  the  older  pupils, 
have  given  concrete  opportunities  for  putting 
theories  into  practice. 

The  last  fifteen  months  have  been  largely 
devoted  as  time  permitted  to  an  intensive 
study  of  Dr.  Montessori  and  her  principles 
of  education  including  not  only  her  book, 
"Pedagogica  Scientifica, "  and  its  translation 
into  English,  "The  Montessori  Method  of 
[vii] 


PREFACE 

Scientific  Pedagogy,"1  but  a  three  months' 
trip  to  Italy  where  I  had  the  advantages  of 
personal  conferences  with  Dr.  Montessori 
and  the  best  exponents  of  her  "method," 
and  also  of  extended  visits  to  all  the  schools 
in  Rome  where  her  methods  have  been  intro- 
duced. My  belief  in  the  value  of  her  theo- 
ries and  methods  is  based  upon  a  conviction 
which  this  study  and  observation  has  deep- 
ened, that  her  educational  principles  have  a 
firm  philosophical  and  psychological  foun- 
dation; a  belief  which  my  experiments  with 
American  children  since  my  return,  have  still 
more  intensified. 

My  only  excuse,  therefore,  for  adding  one 
more  to  the  books  which  have  already  been 
published  as  a  result  of  the  growing  interest 
in  England  and  America  in  this  remarkable 
woman  and  her  theories,  is  that  in  none  of 
them  have  I  found  such  a  testing  of  these 
theories  and  methods  by  the  principles  of 
modern  child  psychology  as  to  me  seems 
necessary  for  an  accurate  estimate  of  their 
value.  Neither  have  I  found  in  them  a 
sufficient  emphasis  placed  on  the  spirit 
which  animates  the  "  method." 

1  The  Montessori  Method  of  Scientific  Pedagogy,  trans- 
lated by  Anne  E.  George,  New  York:  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Company. 

[viii] 


PREFACE 

There  are  always  two  dangers  threatening 
any  new  movement  which  awakens  such 
popular  enthusiasm  as  this  has:  either 
that  it  will  be  crystallised  into  a  hard  and 
fast  system;  or,  because  too  thoughtlessly 
exploited  and  too  over-praised  at  first,  that 
it  will  suffer  the  fate  of  many  earlier  methods, 
which,  unable  to  meet  the  expectations 
aroused  in  the  public  mind  by  uncritical 
enthusiasts,  have  been  loudly  hailed  only 
later  to  sink  into  oblivion.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  my  interest  in  this  Italian  doctor 
and  teacher  I  have  deprecated  the  word 
" method"  in  connection  with  her,  for  noth- 
ing so  fixed  can  properly  describe  anything 
so  fluid  as  her  own  attitude  of  mind.  I 
have  also  deprecated  the  hasty  adoption 
of  these  methods  before  there  is  in  this 
country  a  body  of  teachers  who  have  been 
trained  under  Dr.  Montessori,  for  I  feel 
that  we  should  emulate  her  patience,  her 
untiring  devotion,  her  readiness  to  give  up 
years  of  her  life  in  order  to  test  her  beliefs 
by  experience. 

It  is  therefore  with  a  genuine  desire  to 

make  clear  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the 

psychological  basis  of  her  methods  as  well 

as  to  summarise  and  interpret  the  principles 

[ix] 


PREFACE 

underlying  them,  so  that  the  spirit  which 
animates  them  may  become  a  living  force 
in  America,  that  I  offer  this  study  of  these 
principles  and  of  their  concrete  embodiment 
in  the  material  now  so  familiar  to  the  Ameri- 
can public.  I  also  make  some  suggestions 
for  possible  amplification  and  adaptation 
to  the  pressing  needs  of  our  own  country 
which  are  the  outcome  of  an  experiment 
made  last  summer  in  using  the  material  with 
a  group  of  American  children. 

I  also  venture  to  hope  that  such  an  inter- 
pretation of  Dr.  Montessori' s  educational 
theories  and  practice  will  disabuse  the  minds 
of  its  readers  of  many  misconceptions  which 
have  arisen  since  the  first  introduction  into 
America  of  the  "Montessori  Method." 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  Miss  Anne 
E.  George,  first  Montessori  directress  in 
America  and  translator  of  "The  Montessori 
Method/'  who  by  her  enthusiastic  and  prac- 
tical help  changed  my  first  general  interest 
in  the  subject  into  a  keen  desire  to  go  to 
Italy  and  study  Dr.  Montessori  and  her 
work.  My  thanks  are  due,  also,  to  several 
others  who  have  read  the  manuscript  and 
proofs  and  helped  me  with  their  suggestions 
and  criticisms. 

[x] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

I  THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL      .       1 

"A  socialised  school  in  a  socialised  home." 

II  CONTROLLING  IDEAS;  LIBERTY 
THROUGH  DISCIPLINED  ACTIV- 
ITY AND  INDEPENDENCE  ...  17 

"  The  triumph  of  discipline  is  through  the 
conquest  of  liberty  and  independence." 

III  SELF-DISCIPLINE    THROUGH   OBEDI- 

ENCE       35 

"  To  obey  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  wish 
to  obey  but  to  know  how" 

IV  THE     TWO-FOLD     AIM     OF     EDUCA- 

TION  49 

"Our  aim  in  education  is  two-fold — bio- 
logical and  social." 

V  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 61 

"  The  aim  of  education  is  to  develop  the 
energies." 

VI  SENSORY  EDUCATION 72 

"A  game  is  a  free  activity  ordered  to  a 
definite  end." 

VII  FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS     ...   103 

"The  greatest  triumph  of  our  education 
should  be  to  bring  about  the  spontaneous 
progress  of  the  child." 
[xi] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII  "THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM     .   114 

"A  great  deal  of  time  and  intellectual 
force  are  lost  in  this  world  because  the 
false  seems  great  and  the  truth  so 
small." 

IX  THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT  ....   134 

"  The  social  environment  of  individuals 
in  the  process  of  education  is  the  home." 

X  THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER.      .      .     .   154 

"  There  exists  only  one  real  biological  man- 
ifestation— the  living  individual;  and 
toward  single  individuals,  one  by  one 
observed,  education  must  be  directed." 

XI  THE    MONTESSORI  MOVEMENT  AND 

ITS  CRITICS 181 

"An  elementary  school  loyal  to  the  princi- 
ples of  respect  for  the  freedom  of  the 
child  and  its  spontaneous  manifes- 
tation." 

XII  THE  DEEPER  MESSAGE  OF  MONTES- 
SORI   204 

"Humanity  growing  in  the  spirit  accord- 
ing to  its  own  deep  laws." 

XIII  A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER.      .  213 

"A  Montessori  Playhouse." 

XIV  A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS.      .  229 

"  The  property  of  the  collectivity." 


[xii] 


A  GUIDE  TO 
THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE 
MONTESSORI  METHOD 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

"A  socialised  school  in  a  socialised  home." 

No  one  who  has  not  visited  Rome  within 
the  last  decade  and  studied  with  more  than 
a  tourist's  ephemeral  interest  the  modern 
city  which  overshadows  the  ruins  of  the  past 
can  have  any  idea  of  the  social,  political  and 
educational  renaissance  which  has  come  to  it. 

I  beg  any  reader  of  this  book  to  put  away 
at  once  that  conception  of  Rome  as  "The 
Mother  of  Races/7  "The  Eternal  City," 
"The  Niobe  of  Nations/'  which  has  grown 
up  in  his  mind  as  a  result  of  the  emphasis 
usually  given  to  Rome  in  her  relation  to  the 
past  in  history  and  art,  and  obtain  instead 
a  vivid  impression  of  her  as  the  capital  of  a 
strong,  young  nation,  full  of  vitality  and  en- 
thusiasm, ready  to  play  a  leading  part  in 
the  world  drama. 

[1] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

If  Rome  is  eternal  it  is  because  she  is 
ever  young;  her  Janus  gate  is  open  to  the 
East  and  she  must  be  thought  of  as  in  the 
van  of  the  forward  movement  of  our  time. 
Unless  one  has  such  an  attitude  of  mind, 
the  first  sight  of  the  enormous  monument  to 
Vittorio  Emmanuele  comes  as  a  rude  shock 
for  it  seems  an  example  of  vandalism  as  it 
haughtily  usurps  the  first  place  in  any  view 
of  the  city  and  almost  rudely  shoves  into 
the  background  those  famous  relics  of  me- 
dieval and  ancient  times,  the  Capitol,  the 
Forum  and  the  Colosseum.  But  to  one  who 
studies  Rome  as  she  really  is,  this  magnifi- 
cent expression  of  gratitude,  this  tribute  to 
Vittorio  as  her  emancipator  is  suggestive. 
United  Italy,  a  city  saved  from  fever  by  the 
dyking  of  the  Tiber,  the  Campagna  freed 
from  malaria,  are  some  of  the  gifts  of  that 
great  soldier  and  patriot,  gifts  which  make 
possible  the  clean,  hygienic,  expanding  Rome 
of  to-day. 

There  are  many  men  and  women  who  are 
making  this  city  what  she  is  rapidly  becom- 
ing, the  real  capital  of  modern  Italy;  but  to 
those  who  are  interested  in  the  education 
and  welfare  of  children,  Maria  Montessori 
stands  out  pre-eminently  as  a  noble  example 
[2] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

of  the  New  Woman,  one  whose  genius  and 
wonderfully  sympathetic  insight  into  the 
heart  and  mind  of  a  child  have  awakened  the 
interest  of  the  whole  world  in  her  theory 
for  the  education  of  children. 

The  great  engineering  feats  which  resulted 
in  the  dyking  of  the  Tiber  and  the  draining 
of  the  Campagna  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
19th  century  made  possible  not  only  the 
expansion  of  Rome  beyond  the  walls  which 
had  confined  it  so  long,  but  the  utilisation 
for  building  purposes  of  land  along  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber  within  the  city  gates  which 
heretofore  had  been  plague  spots  of  disease 
due  to  the  overflowing  of  this  river.  As  so 
often  happens  the  first  effect  of  these  two 
engineering  feats  was  a  feverish  activity  in 
real  estate  transactions  followed  by  the  hasty 
erection  of  poorly  planned  and  cheaply  built 
blocks  of  buildings  in  all  parts  of  the  city 
and  its  new  suburbs,  until  the  "boom"  so 
thoughtlessly  created  caused  about  twenty 
years  ago  a  panic  and  a  complete  collapse 
of  building  activities.  At  this  moment 
Edoardo  Talamo,  seeing  the  possibilities  of 
expansion,  seized  his  opportunity  and  by 
the  establishment  of  the  Real  Estate  Asso- 
ciation of  the  "Beni  Stabili"  and  by  his 
[3] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

design  for  model  apartments  which  he  calls 
the  "Casa  Moderna"  not  only  did  much  to 
help  solve  the  great  housing  problem,  but 
turned  the  tide  of  ruin  into  a  wave  of 
prosperity,  which  has  not  yet  run  its  course. 

About  twenty  years  ago  Dr.  Montessori 
was  a  young  girl  of  great  beauty  and  charm 
who  had  recently  been  graduated  as  a  Doctor 
of  Medicine,  the  first  woman  to  receive 
that  degree  from  the  University  of  Rome. 
Her  first  medical  practice  was  in  a  clinic 
and  hospital  for  deficient  children  connected 
with  the  University  of  Rome  where  she  had 
an  opportunity  to  test  upon  these  children 
the  theories  she  already  possessed  as  to  the 
possibilities  of  education.  Her  belief  that 
mental  deficiency  was  a  pedagogical  rather 
than  a  medical  problem  was  justified  by  the 
results  obtained,  and  a  course  of  lectures 
on  the  education  of  the  feeble-minded 
which  she  gave  to  teachers  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  state  schools  for  defec- 
tives which  she  directed  for  over  two  years. 

After  visits  to  London  and  Paris,  where 
she  studied  in  the  hospitals  for  the  feeble- 
minded, she  gave  herself  up  with  her  usual 
whole-hearted  enthusiasm  to  teaching  defi- 
cients and  training  their  teachers.  Her  basic 
[41 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

principle  of  setting  free  the  personality  of 
each  deficient  child  by  methods  adapted  to 
him  became  such  a  controlling  idea  that  she 
reached  the  conclusion  that  similar  methods 
applied  to  normal  children  would  have 
equally  marvelous  results.  She  then  began 
a  more  thorough  study  both  of  remedial 
and  normal  pedagogy,  registering  as  a  stu- 
dent of  philosophy  in  the  University,  where 
she  made  a  most  exhaustive  study  of  the 
works  of  her  great  predecessors  Itard  and 
S£guin,  and  the  Italian  masters  of  peda- 
gogical anthropology,  Sergi  and  Di  Giovanni. 
These  studies,  combined  with  other  re- 
searches into  pedagogical  anthropology  in 
the  schools,  resulted  in  her  appointment  as 
lecturer  on  anthropology  in  the  University 
of  Rome.  The  course  of  lectures  she  gave 
there  was  later  published  and  has  now  been 
translated  into  English.1 

The  year  1907  is  an  important  one  in  the 
history  of  the  Montessori  movement  for 
it  marks  the  moment  Dr.  Montessori,  who 
had  up  to  this  time  worked  along  separate 
lines,  was  invited  to  form  the  first  "Casa  dei 
Bambini "  or  "  Children's  House"  in  the 

1  Pedagogical  Anthropology,  translated  by  Frederic 
Taber  Cooper.  New  York:  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co. 

[5] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

model  tenement  built  by  the  Beni  Stabili 
Association  in  the  quarter  of  San  Lorenzo. 
This  quarter  of  the  city,  just  outside  the 
gate  of  that  name,  was  one  of  the  poorest 
in  Rome  and  had  suffered  most  from  the 
collapse  of  the  building  scheme  spoken  of 
above.  The  poorly  built  and  badly  planned 
dwellings  erected  at  the  time  the  specula- 
tive fever  was  at  its  height  had  been  diverted 
from  their  original  purpose  and  were  now 
occupied  by  the  poorest  and  most  vicious 
of  the  people,  who  herded  together  in  de- 
fiance of  all  sanitary  and  moral  laws.  This 
association  had  bought  up  many  such 
blocks  and  by  judicious  demolition  and  re- 
construction had  transformed  them  into  neat, 
hygienic  apartments,  which  could  be  rented 
at  a  low  cost.  It  was  Talamo's  brilliant 
idea  to  make  the  child  the  central  thought 
in  these  new  homes,  to  plan  for  his  health, 
education  and  care  during  the  long  day 
while  his  parents  were  absent  as  wage  earn- 
ers; and  to  develop  in  these  parents,  as 
residents,  through  their  love  for  their  chil- 
dren, respect  for  and  care  of  the  property. 
The  psychological  moment  that  saw  the 
opening  of  the  first  model  tenement  of  the 
Beni  Stabili  was  that  of  the  completion  of 
16] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

Montessori's  long  years  of  study  and  teach- 
ing; and  the  invitation  to  her  to  direct  the 
schools  of  this  association  in  these  buildings 
was  an  inspired  act  which  made  possible  the 
spread  of  her  ideas  all  over  the  world.  For 
in  the  various  Case  dei  Bambini  or  Children's 
Houses  which  quickly  followed  that  first  one 
in  the  quarter  of  San  Lorenzo,  Montessori 
again  had  an  opportunity  to  test  her  basic 
principle  of  freeing  the  personality  and 
latent  energy  of  the  child  and  helping  his 
self  education  through  materials  and  meth- 
ods scientifically  adapted  to  his  individual 
needs.  The  fifteen  years  that  had  elapsed 
since  her  initial  effort  with  deficient  children 
had  trained  a  remarkable  creative  genius 
able  to  mold  together  into  one  rational 
system  of  education  the  best  that  had  been 
discovered  in  the  past.  She  herself  says 
that  fifty  years  of  medico-pedagogical  study 
by  Itard,  S^guin  and  herself  are  embodied 
in  her  system.  It  is  also  an  evolution  from 
the  work  of  her  great  forerunners  in  educa- 
tion, Rousseau,  Pestalozzi,  Herbart  and 
Froebel. 

It  is  because  I  believe  so  strongly  in  the 
value  of  this  experiment  as  a  social  move- 
ment  that  I   am  desirous  that  American 
[7] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

students  of  Montessori  should  understand 
the  practical,  philanthropic  work  of  the 
Beni  Stabili  Association  as  well  as  the  edu- 
cational principles  of  Montessori.  During 
the  six  or  seven  years  since  the  formation 
of  this  company,  not  only  has  the  practical 
foresight  of  its  promoters  been  justified 
(for  I  was  told  that  dividends  of  7%  were 
paid  on  its  stock),  but  the  social  necessity 
for  co-operation  in  modern  city  life  has 
been  proved,  as  each  new  block  provides 
more  and  more  for  the  common  life  of  its 
tenants.  The  school  in  each  block,  which 
was  open  to  the  children  of  all  the  tenants, 
had  resident  teachers  ready  to  advise  with 
each  parent  and  was  supported  by  the  fund 
originally  set  aside  for  repairs,  which  the 
new  interest  and  thrift  of  the  tenants  made 
unnecessary.  It  was  only  a  succession  of 
logical  steps  which  led  to  the  addition  of 
baths,  infirmaries,  rooms  for  the  storage  of 
bicycles  and  baby-carriages,  a  laundry 
open  to  each  tenant  in  turn,  a  room  with 
sewing-machines  free  to  all  and  finally  a 
common  kitchen  where  most  of  the  cooking 
could  be  done.  The  officers  of  this  asso- 
ciation realise  that  conditions  differ  in 
various  parts  of  Rome  where  the  populace  is 
[8] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

grouped  into  separate  classes  more  than 
with  us,  and  have  planned  three  or  four 
types  of  blocks :  one  for  the  very  poor,  where 
both  parents  are  wage  earners;  one  for  the 
lower  middle  class  where  the  father  is  a 
constant  and  the  mother  an  occasional  wage 
earner;  one  also  for  the  upper  class  whose 
members  can  afford  apartments  with  every 
luxury  and  perfection  of  detail.  They  have 
thus  avoided  the  mistake  made  twenty 
years  ago  when  large  and  expensive  struc- 
tures were  erected  in  portions  of  the  city 
where  the  poor  congregate,  which  had 
proved  to  be  unsuited  to  their  needs  and 
therefore  were  subdivided  and  sub-let  until 
they  became  centers  of  congestion,  disease, 
and  even  vice  and  crime.  In  all  these 
blocks  whether  for  the  poor  or  the  rich  I 
found  the  welfare  of  the  child  had  been  the 
central  thought  in  their  construction  and  in 
each  a  large  measure  of  co-operation  was 
provided  for.  Although  it  is  not  possible 
in  a  great  city  like  New  York  or  London, 
where  the  area  is  so  limited  and  the  popu- 
lation so  immense,  to  afford  the  ground 
space  which  is  used  in  Rome  for  one  of  these 
ideal  tenements,  it  would  be  quite  feasible 
to  plan  a  socialised  school  on  the  "sky 
[9] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

scraper"  order  with  two  or  three  floors  in 
it  set  aside  for  the  school,  teacher's  apart- 
ments, library,  bath  and  infirmary  and  with 
a  garden  or  out-of-door  school  on  the  roof. 
There  are,  however,  many  cities  in  this 
country  and  in  England,  like  the  "  Garden 
Cities,"  that  can  with  profit  study  their 
own  housing  problem  in  the  light  of  what 
this  association  has  accomplished. 

At  the  time  of  this  writing,  Dr.  Montessori 
has  unfortunately  no  connection  with  the 
Case  dei  Bambini  of  the  Beni  Stabili  or  with 
the  Municipal  schools.  She  has  therefore 
no  voice  in  the  selection  of  teachers  and 
should  not  be  held  responsible  for  faulty 
methods  which  have  been  allowed  to  creep 
in.  The  Convent  School  in  Via  Giusti 
and  her  own  school  in  Via  Principessa 
Clotilde  are  the  only  ones  at  present  under 
her  direct  supervision.  Before  these  words 
are  in  print,  I  trust  that  plans  now  maturing 
which  will  give  her  control  over  other  schools 
will  have  gone  into  effect.  The  Convent 
School  has  been  so  often  described  that  its 
main  features  are  familiar  to  Americans. 
It  is  a  most  interesting  and  significant  fact 
that  among  the  most  loyal  supporters  and 
enthusiastic  followers  of  La  Dottoressa  are 
[10] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

numbered  these  missionary  sisters  of  St. 
Frances  who  have  opened  their  convent  to 
her,  given  part  of  their  buildings  and  ground 
over  for  a  school,  and  harboured  visiting 
sisters  from  many  lands  who  are  learning 
the  method  with  a  view  of  introducing  it  all 
over  the  world.  Many  of  the  children  in 
this  school  are  orphans  from  the  Messina 
earthquake;  others  come  from  poor  families 
in  the  neighbourhood.  The  high  vaulted 
schoolroom,  the  beautiful  cloisters  enclosing 
two  quadrangles  attractively  laid  out  with 
trees,  shrubs  and  flower  beds,  the  high  en- 
closing walls,  create  an  ideal  environment  to 
which  the  children  seem  to  respond. 

In  strong  contrast  to  this  school  is  the 
one  which  the  Doctor  herself  directs  in  her 
own  beautiful  apartment  near  the  Piazza 
del  Populo.  Here  the  group  is  small,  se- 
lected from  amongst  the  children  of  per- 
sonal friends  and  admirers,  and  the  children 
are  older  than  those  in  the  other  schools. 
Before  long  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  record 
of  the  result  of  this  experiment  as  it  carries 
the  principles  up  into  the  elementary  school, 
will  be  published. 

Maria  Montessori  so  far  in  her  life  has 
gone  steadily  on,   giving  in  turn  to  each 
[11] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

problem  as  it  was  presented  to  her  that  con- 
centrated, absorbed  attention  which  is  so 
characteristic  of  her.  In  addition  to  a 
wonderful,  magnetic  personality,  she  pos- 
sesses creative  genius,  an  almost  religious 
consecration  to  her  life  work,  and  a  prac- 
tical ability  to  embody  her  ideas  in  con- 
crete form.  That  her  principles  are  uni- 
versal and  general  is  shown,  I  think,  in  the 
variety  of  forms  in  which  they  have  found 
expression  as  well  as  in  their  adaptation  to 
manifold  needs.  Not  only  the  feeble-minded, 
not  only  the  children  brought  together  for 
care  and  training  from  the  homes  of  poor 
wage  earners,  but  those  from  well-to-do  or 
luxurious  homes  respond  to  her  teaching 
and  develop  most  wonderfully  in  self-control 
and  liberty  of  thought  and  action.  I  there- 
fore believe  that  although  America  cannot, 
at  present  anyway,  have  the  direct  inspira- 
tion of  Maria  Montessori's  personality,  the 
universal  appeal  found  in  her  spirit  and 
controlling  ideas  will  be  responded  to  by 
our  parents  as  well  as  our  educators. 

Since  these  words  were  written  the  oppor- 
tunity has  been  provided  for  our  American 
and  English  teachers  to  obtain  training  in 
Rome  under  Dr.  Montessori  and  to  observe 

[12] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

and    practise    in    the    Montessori    schools 
there. 

The  psychological  moment  is  here  and 
now  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in 
England  as  it  was  in  Rome  in  1907.  A  wave 
of  unrest  has  spread  over  the  whole  country. 
Our  system  of  education  from  the  kinder- 
garten up  through  the  university  is  open  to 
attack  as  never  before.  The  chapter  from 
the  book  of  Ezekiel,  so  aptly  quoted  by 
Dr.  Montessori  in  her  book,  has  its  appli- 
cation to  us  also.  Our  dry  bones  of  edu- 
cational practice  need  the  breath  of  the 
spirit  to  pass  over  them  and  cause  them  to 
arise  and  unite  into  a  new  and  living  organ- 
ism. Destructive  criticism  is  always  unwise 
because  it  only  creates  a  feeling  of  dissatis- 
faction without  suggesting  any  remedy. 
Our  books,  newspapers  and  magazine  articles 
have  been  full  of  such  destructive  criticism 
until,  if  one  reads  widely,  the  conclusion 
seems  unavoidable  that  educationally  we 
are  rapidly  going  to  the  dogs.  These 
problems  and  doubts,  once  confined  to  the 
teachers  alone,  are  now  shared  by  the  tre- 
mendous reading  public  of  our  day,  and 
parents  as  well  as  teachers  are  asking  what 
is  to  be  done.  Much  has  already  been 
[13] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

accomplished  in  our  country;  more  than  in 
Italy  we  have  our  classes  for  deficients,  our 
vocational  schools,  our  "intelligence  tests" 
for  entering  pupils,  our  trained  educational 
psychologists  whose  alert  minds  are  seeking 
the  answer.  But  as  yet  it  is  all  somewhat 
chaotic  and  disorganised.  We  need  just 
at  the  moment  a  uniform  principle  of  uni- 
versal application  to  which  psychologists, 
educators  and  parents  will  alike  respond. 
If  Maria  Montessori  can  give  us  such  a 
principle  and  such  an  object  lesson  in  its 
demonstration  as  her  didactic  material, 
so  called,  provides  for,  let  us  send  our  best 
to  sit  at  her  feet  in  Rome  open-minded  and 
sympathetic,  that  they  may  absorb  some  of 
her  spirit,  her  insight  and  her  wisdom. 
Then  let  them  return  to  us  able  to  point 
out  the  proper  application  of  this  spirit  to 
our  own  problem,  the  American  child. 

Let  us  avoid  if  we  can  a  repetition  of 
the  history  of  the  kindergarten  movement. 
The  genius  of  Froebel  was  after  his  death 
curbed  and  fettered  by  devotees  who  held 
blindly  to  a  system  which  seemed  on  the 
surface  so  simple.  The  games,  gifts  and 
occupations  he  devised  appeared  to  have 
in  the  minds  of  his  disciples  a  kind  of  sanc- 
[14] 


THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

tity,  so  that  it  seemed  to  them  a  desecration 
to  make  any  changes,,  and  the  portrait  of 
Froebel  himself  that  as  a  necessary  feature 
of  each  kindergarten  was  supposed  to  in- 
spire both  teacher  and  children,  was  really 
a  symbol  of  the  slavish  adherence  of  his 
followers  to  the  letter  rather  than  the 
spirit  of  his  doctrines.  Then  when  "all  had 
found  the  seed,"  the  system  instead  of  the 
genius  of  Froebel  was  seized  upon  by  half- 
taught  young  girls,  and  the  whole  movement 
fell  into  disrepute  until  it  was  rescued  by 
the  educational  psychologist  and  real  edu- 
cator and  given  back  to  us  as  Froebel 
would  wish,  not  fixed  in  the  dress  he  gave 
it,  but  garbed  in  a  manner  suited  to  the 
children  of  our  own  time. 

Let  us  take  warning  from  this  history  and 
protect  the  Montessori  method  from  a  like 
fate  by  guarding  it  from  hasty,  uncon- 
sidered,  too  literal  adoption.  Let  us  study 
Dr.  Montessori' s  spirit  and  controlling  ideas 
and  then  test  them  by  modern  child  psy- 
chology. Let  us  use  her  wonderful  material 
as  not  abusing  it  but  with  flexibility  and 
freedom  while  keeping  fast  hold  of  the 
principles  it  embodies.  In  this  way  educa- 
tors and  parents  can  work  together,  in  the 
[15] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

school  and  home  alike,  to  give  our  children 
their  birthright  of  freedom  in  this  century  of 
democracy  and,  by  setting  free  their  per- 
sonality and  leading  them  to  self-control, 
self-training  and  many-sided  development, 
teach  them  how  to  utilise  the  tremendous 
fund  of  nervous  energy  latent  in  every 
child. 


[16] 


CHAPTER  II 

CONTROLLING  IDEAS;  LIBERTY  THROUGH 

DISCIPLINED  ACTIVITY  AND 

INDEPENDENCE 

"The  triumph  of  discipline  is  through  the  conquest  of 
liberty  and  independence." 

THE  previous  chapter  contains  frequent 
allusions  to  the  controlling  ideas  or  prin- 
ciples which  have  inspired  Dr.  Montessori 
in  the  invention  and  construction  of  her 
didactic  material,  but  a  fuller  study  of 
them  should  precede  any  discussion  of  this 
material.  In  her  book,  "The  Montessori 
Method  of  Scientific  Pedagogy,"  these  prin- 
ciples are,  of  course,  fully  set  forth,  but  it 
may  prove  helpful  if  they  are  here  brought 
together  in  orderly  fashion  and  studied  by 
themselves.  It  is  always  much  easier  to 
follow  a  method  blindly  than  to  make  our 
very  own  the  principles  which  it  illustrates, 
and  this  material  in  its  very  appeal  to  the 
parent  and  teacher  on  account  of  its  sim- 
plicity, practicality  and  concreteness  may, 
in  the  minds  of  many,  take  the  first  place 
[17] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

and   be  adopted   without   thought   of   the 
spirit  behind  it. 

Dr.  Montessori  emphasises  over  and  over 
again  these  ideas:  that  the  personality 
of  the  child  must  be  liberated  by  methods 
adapted  to  his  individual  needs;  that  his 
inherent  nervous  energy  must  be  conducted 
into  channels  of  organised  activity;  that  lib- 
\  erty  through  activity  must  be  the  ideal  for 
/  discipline;  that  the  child's  natural  love  of 
work  for  the  work's  sake  and  the  very  joy  of 
doing  it  should  be  given  a  free  field  for  its 
development;  that  true  education  involves 
self-training  and  is  to  that  extent  auto- 
education;  that  the  part  of  the  teacher 
i  is  to  suggest,  to  guide,  but  not  to  dictate; 
that  reward  comes  from  the  work  itself  and 
not  from  anything  extraneous:  that  true 
self-discipline  makes  our  so-called  prizes 
and  punishments  unnecessary;  that  before 
any  group  work  with  children,  there  should 
come  the  complete  understanding  between 
each  individual  of  the  group  and  its  director 
so  that  each  responds;  that  fundamental 
training  in  righteousness  begins  when  the 
child  spontaneously  and  happily  follows  the 
laws  of  his  own  development;  that  obedience, 
instead  of  being  the  breaking  of  the  child's 
[18] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

will  to  subject  it  to  that  of  another,  is 
really  the  complete  expansion  of  his  whole 
nature  when  he  not  only  desires  but  knows 
how  to  follow  a  command.  Children  "are 
virtuous  because  they  exercise  patience  in 
repeating  their  exercises,  long-suffering  in 
yielding  to  the  commands  and  desires  of 
others,  good  in  rejoicing  in  the  well-being  of 
others  without  jealousy  or  rivalry;  they  live 
doing  good  in  joyousness  of  heart  and  in 
peace,  and  they  are  eminently,  marvellously 
industrious." 

Dr.  Montessori  would  not  for  a  moment 
wish  us  to  believe  all  these  ideas  are  origi- 
nal with  her,  for  of  course  many  of  them 
are  implied  or  expressed  in  all  educational 
theories,  but  I  think  she  can  claim  to  be  the 
first  one  to  give  to  the  world  a  rational 
theory  of  education  based  upon  true 
biological,  anthropological  and  sociological 
laws,  together  with  the  concrete  embodi- 
ment of  this  theory  in  a  set  of  material 
which  has  been  tested  by  years  of  study  and 
experience. 

Physicians,  psychologists  and  educators 
are  alike  interested  in  the  right  develop- 
ment of  child  life  from  differing  points  of 
view  and  usually  each  sees  the  problem  from 
[19] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

his  own  particular  angle  of  vision;  but  in 
Dr.  Montessori  we  have  the  rare  combina- 
tion of  a  physician  of  wide  experience,  a 
psychologist  and  anthropologist  of  deserved 
reputation,  and  an  educator  who  has  de- 
voted years  of  her  life  to  the  education  of 
children  and  the  training  of  teachers.  This* 
remarkable  threefold  experience  has  come 
to  a  woman  of  creative  and  inventive  genius 
and  of  tireless  enthusiasm,  capable  of  devot- 
ing all  her  energies  with  intense  concentra- 
tion to  the  special  problem  she  is  seeking  to 
solve.  If  we  compare  her  life  history  with 
what  we  know  of  that  of  Rousseau,  Pesta- 
lozzi  or  Froebel,  we  appreciate  its  breadth. 
Rousseau,  the  brilliant  theorist  whose  ideas 
startled  and  moulded  the  thoughts  not  only 
of  the  France  of  his  day,  but  of  our  own 
country,  could  not  put  his  own  theories 
into  practice.  Pestalozzi's  genius  was  con- 
fined to  a  little  German  village  and  ham- 
pered by  poverty  and  ill  health.  Froebel, 
probably  the  greatest  genius  of  the  three, 
had  intuitive  understanding  of  child  life, 
but  living  as  he  did  a  century  ago  could  not 
benefit  by  the  scientific  expansion  of  knowl- 
edge t  which  the  twentieth  century  has 
inaugurated.  To  Dr.  Montessori  then,  who 
[20] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

has  enjoyed  the  opportunities  lacking  to 
her  predecessors,  we  can  listen  with  respect 
as  we  do  to  any  specialist  who  has  by  genius 
and  experience  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  profession.  Let  us  study  in  detail  the 
principles  underlying  her  system  of  educa- 
tion with  sympathetic,  respectful  attention, 
with  an  open  mind  and  with  no  spirit  of 
carping  criticism. 

The  key-note  is  liberty,  in  the  broadest, 
fullest  meaning  of  that  often  misunder- 
stood term.  Liberty  to  her  means  the  libera- 
tion of  the  life  power  within  the  child  to 
untrammelled,  spontaneous,  manifestation 
within  the  limitations  of  its  biological  and 
social  conditions;  a  universal  principle  which 
as  yet  has  only  been  partially  apprehended 
or  applied  by  us  in  our  system  of  education. 
As  long  as  the  teacher  is  the  dominating 
force  in  the  school  so  long  will  there  be  some 
form  of  slavery  rather  than  liberty.  When, 
as  in  this  method,  the  teacher  takes  a  second- 
ary place  in  order  to  observe  and  experi- 
ment, then  irue  liberty  for  the  child  really 
begins.  This  idea  of  liberty  is  biological,  for 
it  is  based  on  the  nature  of  the  child  as  a 
human  being  rather  than  as  a  plant  or  an 
animal.  The  child  is  not  only  born  help- 
[21] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

less  but  comes  into  the  world  as  a  social 
individual,  a  member  of  society,  so  his  ac- 
tivity is  limited  both  by  his  characteristic 
helplessness  and  by  his  relation  to  other  hu- 
man beings  as  that  of  a  flower  or  an  insect 
is  not.  A  system  of  education  which  has 
this  watchword  of  liberty  as  its  basis  must 
help  the  child  conquer  these  obstacles  and 
lead  him  towards  independence,  and  must 
seek  to  surround  him  with  those  conditions 
best  adapted  to  the  perfect  development 
of  his  whole  personality,  including  his  phys- 
ical, mental  and  spiritual  life.  Biologically 
speaking,  there  is  only  one  real  manifesta- 
tion, the  living  individual,  not  the  class  or 
race,  which  are  abstract  classifications;  there- 
fore education  should  concern  itself  more 
and  more  with  the  observation  and  training 
of  single  individuals.  Education  thus  con- 
ceived includes  the  active  help  given  to  as- 
sist the  normal  expansion  of  the  complete 
life  of  the  child,  both  in  soul  and  body,  the 
care  not  to  stifle  the  individual  manifes- 
tations of  this  life  force,  and  the  patient 
waiting  for  the  gradual  flowering  of  each 
personality. 

Again,  the  biological  conception  of  liberty, 
as  the  freeing  of  the  life  force,  regards  envi- 
[22] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

ronment  as  a  secondary  rather  than  a  pri- 
mary factor.  Dr.  Montessori  acknowledges 
her  debt  to  De  Vries,  the  brilliant  botanist, 
whose  theory  of  mutation  or  change  as 
opposed  to  variation  of  species  has  guided 
her  thought  along  parallel  lines.  Environ-"""} 
ment  can  modify  because  it  can  help  or 
hinder  development,  but  it  cannot  create. 
It  can  hold  life  within  a  certain  limit  and 
control  it  by  fixed  laws,  but  it  cannot  orig- 
inate. Therefore,  biologically  considered, 
education  is  limited  as  it  works  on  the  life 
force  through  environment.  We  can  act  on 
the  variation  but  not  on  the  mutation;  we 
can  modify  but  not  create.  The  stronger 
the  life  force,  the  less  it  is  affected  by  en- 
vironment; on  the  other  hand,  the  feebler 
the  native  power  and  capacity,  the  greater 
is  the  opportunity  for  modification  by  its 
environment.  Such  a  theory  helps  us  to 
understand  the  anomalies  and  the  apparent 
paradoxes  in  education.  It  explains  not 
only  Shakespeare  but  the  many  men  of  his- 
tory of  whom  we  learn  in  our  schools  who 
have  apparently  succeeded  in  spite  of  their 
schooling.  We  understand  also  how  human 
progress  persists  in  spite  of  error  and  wrong 
forms  of  education  and  religion.  Envi- 
[23] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

ronment,  then,  can  favor  or  stifle  life  and 
so  is  an  important  factor  in  education,  as 
we  shall  see  more  fully  when  we  study  it  as 
a  feature  of  the  method;  but  the  great  truth 
is,  as  Montessori  says,  "Life  is  a  superb  god- 
dess, always  advancing  and  always  over- 
coming obstacles  which  environment  may 
place  in  the  way  of  her  triumph."  It  is  life, 
therefore,  that  we  should  cherish  and  nur- 
ture, "Life  for  which  our  spirits  pant." 

Liberty  thus  thought  of  involves  activity, 
but  that  activity  must  be  disciplined,  and 
at  this  point  we  arrive  at  another  great 
controlling  idea,  that  of  discipline  through 
liberty. 

Just  as  our  minds  were  expanded  to  re- 
ceive a  new  conception  of  liberty,  so  now 
they  must  be  enlarged  again  to  this  in- 
spiring conception  of  discipline,  formerly  a 
bugbear  of  the  school  and  the  nursery.  I 
wish  nurses  and  governesses  could  have  a 
course  of  training  in  this  method  of  dis- 
cipline so  that  the  careful  work  begun  each 
day  in  our  kindergartens  and  schools  by 
thoughtful,  trained  teachers  would  not  be 
undone  as  the  thoughtless,  uneducated  nurse 
greets  the  child  as  he  leaves  the  schoolroom 
with  the  fatal  words,  "Have  you  been 
[24] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

naughty?"  or  threatens  him  on  his  way 
home  with  the  policeman  or  some  other 
bugaboo.  Last  summer  while  I  was  using 
the  material  with  a  charming  group  of 
American  children,  the  English  nurse  of  one 
of  the  little  boys  said  to  me,  with  a  real 
desire  to  help  me,  "If  John  doesn't  do  as 
you  wish,  tell  him  he  will  have  to  take 
castor-oil. " 

I  feel  so  strongly  the  necessity  for  a  reform 
of  this  abuse  that  I  would  welcome  a  tract, 
addressed  to  nurses,  that  would  in  simple 
language  set  forth  a  contrary  principle,  that 
of  expansion  rather  than  repression. 

As  liberty  means  freeing  the  life  force, 
so  discipline  founded  on  liberty  must  mean 
ordered  activity.  An  individual  is  his  own 
true  master  and  therefore  disciplined  only 
when  he  can  regulate  his  own  conduct  to 
follow  some  rule  of  life.  This  concept  of 
discipline,  as  ordered  activity  founded  on 
liberty,  is  so  opposed  to  the  conventional 
one  that  it  takes  time  and  thought  to  under- 
stand it  aright  and  apply  it  properly;  but 
it  contains  a  great  educational  principle. 
While  I  was  in  Rome  I  visited  several 
schools,  not  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  Dr.  Montessori,  where  her  material  was 
[25] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

at  hand  for  the  children  to  use  and  where 
the  teachers  showed  a  superficial  knowledge 
of  the  system,  but  where  a  lack  of  complete 
apprehension  of  this  principle  of  discipline 
was  bringing  chaos  rather  than  order;  thus 
completely  reversing  the  ideal  set  up.  One 
teacher  said  to  me,  in  perfectly  good  faith, 
'  There  is  no  discipline  in  the  Montessori 
schools, "  and  I  was  not  surprised  to  see  her 
room  in  disorder  and  the  children  dissipating 
their  energies  in  aimless  and  superficial 
play. 

If  liberty  means  the  freeing  of  the  life 
force  within  each  individual  human  being, 
discipline  means  its  control  under  the  special 
bonds  and  restrictions  which  the  human  life, 
helpless  in  its  infancy  and  restricted  by  the 
rights  of  other  human  beings,  must  feel.  If 
we  wish  to  gain  freedom  in  our  chosen  work 
as  mechanic,  as  artist  or  as  teacher,  we  must 
first  gain  control  through  repression  of  all 
useless  or  dangerous  movements.  A  famous 
artist  once  summed  up  for  me  in  a  few  sug- 
gestive sentences  his  life  history.  First  as  a 
child,  the  free  spontaneous  effort  to  express 
what  he  saw  with  no  idea  of  the  laws  of  art 
or  of  its  limitations;  then  the  years  of  patient 
submission  to  those  laws  and  limitations 
[26] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

until  he  became  master  of  his  technique; 
then  in  his  prime  came  the  joy  of  perfect 
freedom  as  his  hand,  master  of  the  brush, 
expressed  almost  automatically  the  creations 
of  his  artistic  soul.  It  is  that  joy  in  life 
which  comes  from  mastery  of  self,  and  there- 
fore perfect  freedom,  that  should  come  to 
each  child.  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth  and 
the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

Because  of  these  bonds,  Dr.  Montessori 
tells  us  that  the  liberty  of  the  child  should 
have  as  its  limit  the  collective  interest;  as  I 
its  form  what  we  universally  consider  good 
breeding.  Therefore  this  principle  of  the 
free,  spontaneous  expression  of  the  child's 
personality  has  as  a  controlling  or  necessary 
implication  the  opposite  idea  of  inhibition. 
All  acts  useless,  dangerous,  or  opposed  to 
good  breeding  should  be  as  vigorously 
repressed  as  all  acts  conducive  to  the  child's 
freedom  within  these  limits  should  be  al- 
lowed. The  child  comes  thus  early  to  dis- 
tinguish between  right  and  wrong,  good 
and  evil;  between  the  Kantian  imperative, 
"I  must,"  and  the  Mosaic  restrictive, 
"Thou  shalt  not";  and  it  is  consequently 
easy  to  implant  in  his  childish  mind  that 
joyous  realisation  of  duty  as  our  own  contri- 
[27] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

bution  to  life  which  Wordsworth  gives  us  in 
his  famous  ode: 

"  Serene  will  be  our  days  and  bright, 
And  happy  will  our  nature  be, 
When  love  is  an  unerring  guide 
And  joy  its  own  security." 

A  full  realisation  of  discipline  as  prepara- 
tion for  completely  ordered  mental,  physical 
and  spiritual  liberty  involves  a  true  under- 
standing of  the  value  of  work  as  a  factor  in 
our  development.  Fundamentally,  we  are 
active.  We  come  into  this  world  with  a 
fund  of  energy,  greater  or  less,  which  is 
our  inheritance.  This  energy  shows  itself 
in  the  baby  in  a  mass  of  chaotic,  unorgan- 
ised activities  together  with  a  few  instinc- 
tive and  automatic  actions  necessary  to  life, 
such  as  breathing,  sucking,  crying  and  so 
on.  The  progress  of  the  child  is  from  this 
ill-regulated,  unco-ordinated,  unrestrained 
activity  to  the  habits  and  ordered  power  of 
maturity.  But  a  human  being  is  always 
dynamic,  not  static;  rest  for  him,  therefore, 
means  ordered  movement,  not  cessation 
of  activity. 

"Rest  is  not  quitting  this  earthly  career, 
Rest  is  the  fitting  of  each  to  his  sphere." 
[28] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

The  true  rest  for  our  lungs  is  normal  breath- 
ing; for  our  heart,  the  natural  beating  of  its 
blood-pressure;  and  for  our  muscles,  orderly 
action.  Experiment  has  shown  that  there 
is  less  fatigue  for  a  child  in  organised  play 
than  in  restless,  disorderly  activity,  provided 
always,  that  such  organised  play  is  the  ex- 
pression of  his  own  spontaneous  impulse. 

Dr.  Montessori  in  her  belief  in  the  multi- 
plication of  the  energies  of  the  child  and  in 
her  theory  that  there  is  no  fatigue  in  work 
where  there  is  no  strain  or  worry,  is  in  ac- 
cord with  our  own  psychologists,  James  and 
Thorndike,  who  have  expressed  similar  ideas. 

The  modern  school,  well  equipped,  with 
every  opportunity  in  it  for  developing  the 
organised  yet  spontaneous  activity  of  the 
child,  should  rest  and  invigorate  instead  of 
fatiguing  him,  or  making  him  nervous. 
For,  in  every  such  school,  provision  is  made 
for  that  natural  repetition  of  exercises  for 
which  the  child  instinctively  feels  the  need, 
which  we  call  "drill,"  and  by  means  of 
which  his  individuality  is  set  into  well- 
ordered  freedom.  There  is  also  provision  for 
the  slow  execution  of  such  exercises,  for  just 
as  the  child's  scale  of  distance  is  so  differ- 
ent from  ours,  so  is  his  time-sense.  He 
[29] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

should  not  be  hurried  as  he  does  something 
with  great  care  and  deliberation  for  the 
first  time,  neither  should  we  hasten  to  help 
him.  When,  therefore,  parents  announce 
their  determination  to  keep  their  children 
at  home  and  not  send  them  to  kindergartens 
or  schools  until  the  age  of  eight  in  order 
that  they  may  attain  a  perfect  physical 
condition,  they  show  a  lack  of  knowledge 
of  the  union  between  the  physical  and  the 
mental  sides  of  a  child's  nature  and  of  the 
truth  that  there  must  be  a  wise  provision 
for  the  mental  life  as  well  as  the  physical 
life  that  his  brain  may  function  properly  to 
be  the  instrument  of  his  expanding  con- 
sciousness. 

From  the  consideration  of  liberty  as  the 
free  development  of  the  life  force,  an  activity 
that  is  free  when  it  is  disciplined  and  realises 
the  laws  and  limitations  of  its  nature  and  its 
environment,  we  turn  to  the  third  factor  in 
this  mastery  and  free  expression  of  self :  that 
is  independence.  True  freedom  means  in- 
dependence; we  must  then  direct  the  first 
active  manifestations  of  the  child's  liberty 
so  that  he  may  gain  independence.  At  this 
point,  at  the  risk  of  tiresome  repetition,  we 
must  be  reminded  that  this  biological  rather 
[30] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

than  legal  conception  of  liberty  considers 
the  child  as  a  human  being  who  in  his  in- 
fancy, unlike  plants  and  animals,  is  abso- 
lutely dependent.  John  Fiske  was  the  first 
to  recognise  the  value  of  the  long  period  of 
infancy  in  the  human  being  in  relation  to 
his  development,  as  it  gives  him  opportunity 
to  free  himself  from  the  bonds  of  those  in- 
stinctive and  reflex  acts  which  hold  the 
animal  down,  and  to  gain  in  their  place  new 
co-ordinations  and  habits,  which  gradually 
supplant  the  random  expression  of  that  ner- 
vous energy  of  life  force  so  characteristic  of 
the  baby. 

"As  helpless  as  a  weaned  child"  tenderly 
suggests  that  first  period  of  infancy.  But 
parents  and  nurses  who  love  that  very  help- 
lessness of  little  children  and  delight  to  serve 
it,  prolong  that  period  uselessly  and  wrong- 
fully. "He  who  is  served  is  limited  in  his 
independence. "  The  child  who  does  not 
act  will  not  learn  how.  When  we  do  for  a 
child  instead  of  helping  him  to  do  for  him- 
self we  are  thwarting  a  deep-rooted  and 
valuable  instinct.  The  child's  cry,  "I  want 
to  do  it  myself,"  is  the  natural  expression 
of  an  activity  which  should  be  developed,  not 
repressed.  It  is  always  easier  to  be  a  nurse 
[31] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

than  an  educator,  but  if  we  as  parents  or 
teachers  yield  to  our  own  desire  to  serve 
rather  than  train  we  only  hamper  the  child 
and  hold  him  back  on  the  road  to  liberty 
through  independence  and  keep  him  from 
the  joy  of  self  mastery.  This  is  a  lesson 
especially  necessary  to  be  learned  by  an  in- 
creasingly large  class  of  parents  whose  chil- 
dren come  to  our  schools  hampered  by  their 
dependence  on  their  nurses,  and  are  unable 
to  perform  for  themselves  those  simple 
personal  acts  which  it  should  be  perfectly 
natural  for  them  to  do.  The  beautiful  ap- 
plication of  this  principle  in  the  button- 
ing and  lacing  frames  which  are  such  a 
unique  feature  of  the  didactic  material 
should  be  appreciated  by  parents,  nurses 
and  teachers  alike. 

This  feeling  of  dependence,  of  pleasure  in 
being  served,  so  fostered  now-a-days  but 
really  so  foreign  to  the  child's  nature,  creates 
in  him,  unconsciously  at  first,  that  false 
classification  of  work  as  menial  and  non- 
menial  which  is  so  opposed  to  a  true  demo- 
cratic spirit.  Our  little  aristocrats  of  the 
schoolroom,  whose  nurses,  forgetting  that 
we  should  be  made  free  to  serve,  dress  and 
undress  them,  lead  them  by  the  hand  and 
[32] 


CONTROLLING  IDEAS 

wait  servilely  on  them,  are  growing  up  in 
a  false  idea  of  service  and  of  work  which 
is  our  heritage.  Growth  and  independence 
involve  that  true  discipline  which  comes 
through  work.  For  as  Montessori  well  says, 
"  Discipline  is  a  path  not  a  fact,  it  is  a  means 
not  an  end,"  and  the  very  beginning  of  it 
appears  when  the  child,  keenly  interested  in 
doing,  sets  himself  to  the  accomplishment  of 
a  definite  task.  It  is  attained  indirectly 
through  the  direction  of  the  child's  own 
spontaneous  efforts;  it  needs  for  its  perfec- 
tion the  repetition  of  a  series  of  complete 
acts  through  work  which  he  instinctively 
desires  and  toward  which  he  naturally 
turns  and  by  means  of  which,  as  he  gains 
more  and  more  power  and  freedom,  he  sets 
his  personality  in  order  and  sees  new  possi- 
bilities of  growth.  I  had  an  interesting 
illustration  of  this  truth  in  my  own  class 
last  summer.  Nancy,  a  child  of  a  little 
more  than  three,  as  an  only  child  in  a  group 
of  fond  uncles,  aunts  and  a  grandmother, 
had  become  very  dependent.  When  she 
first  came  to  our  play-house  she  was  afraid 
to  do  anything  as  the  other  children  did,  to 
close  her  eyes,  to  use  the  material.  But 
in  a  very  few  days  the  delights  of  freedom 
[33] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

and  of  a  sense  of  power  began  to  dawn  in  her 
childish  mind.  Naturally  and  without 
strain  of  any  kind  she  tried  her  little  powers, 
and  grew  more  and  more  independent  and 
disciplined  through  happy  liberty  in  activ- 
ity. An  only  child,  the  limitations  of  the 
collective  rights  had  not  come  to  her  be- 
fore, but  she  responded  beautifully  to  the 
discipline  which  comes  through  group  life. 


[34] 


CHAPTER  III 

SELF-DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

"To  obey  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  wish  to  obey  but 
to  know  how." 

THAT  Dr.  Montessori's  deepest  message 
is  a  spiritual  one,  that  her  highest  ideal  for 
humanity  is  that  of  a  being  fully  developed 
physically,  mentally,  morally,  and  spiritually 
through  the  conquest  of  liberty  and  the 
mastery  of  self  must  be  evident,  I_believe,  to 
anyone  who  studies  her  book  fairly  and 
sympathetically.  But,  like  Browning,  she 
believes  flesh  helps  soul  quite  as  much  as 
soul  helps  flesh.  Like  him  she  propounds 
this  test: 

"Thy  body  at  its  best, 
How  far  can  that  project  thy  soul 
on  its  lone  way?" 

Because  as  a  physician  she  sees  so  clearly 
the  laws  of  physical  life  and  growth,  because 
as  a  psychologist  she  knows  the  intimate 
connection  between  body,  soul  and  spirit, 
she  finds  an  element  of  moral  training  in 
[35] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

the  very  simplest  and  earliest  exercises  and 
makes  no  attempt  to  divorce  it  and  set  it 
above  motor  or  sensory  or  intellectual 
activity.  For  this  reason  she  has  been  mis- 
understood, and  there  are  some  hasty, 
thoughtless  critics  who  have  failed  to  see 
the  spiritual  side  of  the  material  game  or 
activity.  For  this  reason,  therefore,  it  is 
proper  for  us  in  our  preliminary  study  of 
her  " controlling  ideas"  to  add  to  our  inter- 
pretation of  her  conception  of  liberty,  dis- 
cipline and  independence  a  fuller  exposition 
of  her  ideas  of  self-discipline  through  obedi- 
ence and  of  her  belief  in  the  abolition  of 
rewards  and  punishments  as  they  are 
commonly  understood. 

Obedience  has  too  long  been  thought  of  as 
the  especial  virtue  of  childhood,  yet  like 
the  love  of  truth  it  is  seldom  found  in  very 
young  children  and  we  are  only  beginning  to 
realise,  as  our  knowledge  of  psychology  in- 
creases, the  reason  why.  True,  there  is  an 
instinctive  kind  of  obedience  to  be  found  in 
children,  but  in  its  higher  form  it  is  a  complex 
thing  to  be  arrived  at  through  the  develop- 
ment of  our  will  as  well  as  of  our  mental 
power.  It  contains  two  factors,  the  desire 
to  do  something,  and  the  ability  to  perform 
[36] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

it.  That  Dr.  Montessori's  theory  of  edu- 
cation includes  as  an  essential  feature 
moral  training  will  be  seen  later  as  we 
follow  in  detail  her  method  for  motor, 
sensory  and  intellectual  development  and 
see  how  in  each  case  the  will  is  trained  both 
to  activity  and  to  inhibition.  The  child  is 
not  only  having  his  senses  refined,  his  power 
of  discrimination  and  observation  enlarged, 
but  through  his  liberty  of  choice,  through 
his  conquest  of  freedom,  he  is  led  along  the 
path  that  leads  to  real  obedience.  Parents 
and  teachers  too  often  diagnose  as  a  spirit 
of  naughtiness  or  willful  disobedience  that 
lack  of  power  in  a  child  to  respond  to  a 
command  which  he  manifests  either  because 
he  does  not  understand  it  or  because  he  is 
unable  to  execute  it.  Often  too  the  child's 
undeveloped  sense  of  time  and  space  is 
inadequate  for  a  proper  response  to  the 
command  "go  at  once,"  "obey  instantly"; 
commands  given  before  we  are  sure  that  the 
child  knows  exactly  what  is  expected  of  him 
or  that  he  has  the  will-power  to  perform  it. 

Dr.  Montessori  finds  three  periods  in  this 

development  of  intelligent  obedience  in  a 

child.    There    is    at    first    a    subconscious 

period  of  what  she  calls  spiritual  disorder 

[37] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

when  his  mind  is  a  blank,  when  he  is  what 
might  be  called  psychologically  deaf.  This 
is  the  period  in  which  deficient  children 
linger  and  sometimes  never  grow  out  of 
because  their  minds  are  too  undeveloped  to 
understand  and  their  wills  too  weak  to 
respond.  The  second  period  is  found  in  a 
child  when  the  desire  to  obey  has  begun  to 
develop,  and  the  mental  ability  to  under- 
stand and  the  motor  power  to  execute  the 
command  is  partially  formed;  but  through 
lack  of  the  discipline  which  comes  through 
repetition  and  the  control  gained  by  in- 
hibition, he  may  look  as  though  he  under- 
stood the  command  and  would  like  to  obey 
but  can  only  occasionally  and  spasmodically 
succeed  in  doing  so.  In  the  third  period  he 
is  able  to  respond  at  once,  and  as  his  sense 
of  power  grows  he  loves  to  prove  it  and  is 
proud  that  he  possesses  it.  We  see  an  il- 
lustration of  this  fact  in  the  way  a  baby 
gradually  acquires  some  habit  like  that  of 
grasping  a  ball.  There  is  first  a  period  of 
random,  spasmodic  movements  crowned  by 
accidental  success;  the  second  of  occasional 
success  bringing  pleasure  and  desire;  then  the 
third  of  complete  success.  This  ideal  third 
stage  in  which  desire  and  knowledge  bal- 
[38] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

ance  each  other  is  very  slowly  reached,  so 
what  we  often  call  willfulness  is  really  a 
condition  of  undisciplined  will. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  effects  of  the 
training  received  in  the  Montessori  system 
of  education  comes  from  the  regular,  pro- 
gressive development  of  the  will  through 
spontaneous  choice,  so  that  the  true  balance 
may  be  kept  between  desire  and  knowledge. 
Psychologists  affirm  more  and  more  strongly 
that  what  we  mean  by  will  is  the  whole 
mind  active;  that  is,  a  mind  stimulated 
emotionally  to  desire,  to  know,  and  to  do. 
If  we  can  guide  a  child  through  these  three 
periods  from  chaos  to  order,  we  need  not  be 
surprised  at  feats  performed  by  him  which 
seem  to  outsiders  little  short  of  marvellous. 

Some  of  the  greatest  mistakes  in  edu- 
cation, I  believe,  have  come  from  a  lack  of 
comprehension  of  what  is  involved  in  in- 
telligent, as  opposed  to  instinctive  or  imita- 
tive, obedience;  such  errors  as  have  been 
shown,  for  example,  in  the  demands  made 
upon  a  child  for  collective  or  group  work 
before  a  proper  relation  between  him  as  an 
individual  and  his  teacher  has  been  brought 
about.  Athletics  afford  us  an  illustration 
of  this.  The  value  of  team  work — of  the 
[39] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

mass — in  football  or  basket-ball,  comes  when 
the  response  of  each  member  of  the  team  is 
individually  obedient  to  the  call  of  the 
leader  while  each  in  turn  is  strengthened  by 
the  response  of  his  neighbour.  As  Kipling 
illustrates,  by  one  of  his  tales,  the  strength 
of  the  wolf  is  in  the  pack,  and  that  of  the 
pack,  in  each  separate  wolf.  If  we  are  to 
have  each  child  benefit  by  group  work,  we 
must  first  secure  his  response  as  an  individual, 
and  must  be  sure  that  he  is  in  such  a  state 
of  development  that  he  is  able  to  respond 
to  the  social  appeal.  Natural  rather  than 
forced  grouping  is,  therefore,  more  valuable. 
The  extreme  of  individual  teaching,  found 
in  the  Montessori  schools,  and  the  approach 
to  collective  order  through  the  individual 
appeal  is,  consequently,  true  to  this  analysis 
of  the  real  nature  of  obedience.  Another 
illustration  from  the  collective  game  of 
silence  by  which  all  visitors  to  the  schools 
are  so  impressed,  will  show  more  clearly 
what  I  mean.  The  great  value  in  this  game 
lies  not  only  in  its  moral  training  in  self- 
control  through  inhibition,  but  in  the 
spiritual  effect  of  the  condition  of  isolation 
in  which  it  places  each  child,  so  creating  a 
completely  sympathetic  relation  between 

[40] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

him  and  his  teacher.  This  differentiates  it 
from  many  devices  now  in  use  in  our  schools, 
such  as  calisthenic  exercises,  by  means  of 
which  a  teacher  subdues  a  noisy  class. 
This  game  does  have  such  an  unconscious 
influence  and  is  so  far  a  help  to  the  teacher, 
but  it  is  much  more  than  that. 

Perhaps  the  children  are  occupied  in  all 
sorts  of  ways  in  all  parts  of  the  room  when 
the  teacher  will  quietly  go  to  the  black- 
board and  write  in  large,  clear  script,  "Silen- 
zio,"  and  then  as  quietly  take  her  seat  or 
stand  behind  the  group.  One  of  the  older 
children  who  can  read  will  be  the  first  to 
note  this  word,  and  taking  it  as  a  personal 
command  to  himself,  will  go  to  the  seat 
which  habit  has  trained  him  to  use  in  group 
exercises,  when  in  collective  order.  In  some 
occult  way  all  catch  the  spirit  of  the 
moment  and  one  by  one  the  other  chil- 
dren follow  his  example,  each  looking  to  the 
teacher  for  the  personal  appeal,  while  total 
silence,  passing  like  a  wave  over  the  children, 
gradually  succeeds  the  pleasant  noise  of  well- 
ordered  activity.  The  teacher  sits,  herself 
a  model  of  absolute  repose;  some  of  the 
children  shut  their  eyes,  while  others  lean 
their  heads  on  the  tables,  thus  isolating 
[41] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

themselves;  the  room  has  been  darkened, 
and  you  as  an  outsider  realise  that  your 
ideal  for  silence  has  been  imperfect,  and  that 
you  would  not  have  expected  or  waited 
for  that  which  this  teacher  has  gained 
with  such  apparent  ease.  Then,  while  the 
eyes  are  closed  and  the  little  bodies  en- 
tirely relaxed,  comes  from  the  teacher  the 
low  whisper,  "  Velia, "  and  a  little  child  under 
three  who  is  near  you  worms  herself  out  of 
her  chair  without  touching  it  or  the  table,  so 
perfect  is  her  inhibition,  and  tiptoes  to  the 
teacher's  side  with  an  expression  of  joy  in 
successful  effort  upon  her  face.  One  by  one 
the  children  rise  to  this  call  from  out  of 
the  darkness,  and  respond  with  the  same 
control  over  their  bodies  that  you  have 
envied  in  the  baby  Velia.  You  ask  yourself 
at  first,  "Is  this  over-straining  of  nerves?" 
Then  you  realise  that  instead  you  have  an 
example  of  perfect  discipline;  a  command 
heard  with  delight  and  obeyed  joyfully  and 
exactly;  a  true-balance  between  desire  and 
power  through  knowing  how.  Such  a  train- 
ing which  makes  possible  intelligent,  individ- 
ual response  to  the  call  of  the  leader  dif- 
ferentiates the  crowd  from  the  mob,  the 
disciplined  army  from  the  untrained  mass. 
[42] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

I  also  saw  in  Rome  an  example  of  the  old- 
fashioned,  unpedagogical  group  or  collect- 
ive work.  Fifty  children  were  seated  in 
rows  on  benches  at  desks  to  which  they  came 
and  which  they  left  with  automatic  preci- 
sion at  a  sharp  command  from  the  teacher. 
On  the  desk  in  front  of  each  child  were 
little  sticks  of  wood.  As  the  teacher  dictated 
the  lesson  in  which  the  arrangement  of  the 
sticks  was  to  simulate  a  window,  each  of  the 
fifty  children  was  expected  to  obey  the 
orders.  Soon  on  the  twenty-five  desks  at 
which  the  fifty  children  sat,  the  sticks  were 
seen  in  all  sorts  of  positions,  from  those 
designed  by  the  bright  boy  or  girl  who  could 
understand  and  obey  the  order  to  that  of  the 
poor  little  creature  who  painfully  and  blindly 
imitated  his  comrade,  or  sat  in  despair  with 
his  useless  slips  of  wood  in  front  of  him.  On 
the  faces  of  these  children,  I  saw  depicted, 
in  the  place  of  the  joyful  emotions  seen  on 
those  of  the  other  group,  a  whole  gamut  of 
feeling:  pride,  joy,  despair,  envy,  anxiety, 
fatigue.  Here,  except  in  the  case  of  a  very 
few,  was  the  nerve-strain  that  I  had  expected 
to  find  in  the  other  group,  because  they  were 
attempting  a  task  too  hard  for  them  and 
were  using  up  their  nerve  force  in  trying  to 
[43] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

understand  and  follow  the  arbitrary  com- 
mands of  a  teacher,  instead  of  gladly  re- 
sponding with  a  sense  of  ability  to  group 
work  for  which  they  had  previously  been 
prepared  as  individuals. 

Another  valuable  element  in  that  mastery 
of  self  of  which  obedience  is  so  important  a 
factor  is  the  child's  relation  to  rewards  or 
prizes  and  to  punishments.  Dr.  Montessori 
believes  that  a  child  brought  up  in  such  an 
atmosphere  of  freedom  through  disciplined 
activity  as  I  have  attempted  to  portray, 
will  find  sufficient  motive-force  within  him- 
self in  the  expansion  of  his  own  power,  and 
that  anything  extraneous,  like  a  reward  or  a 
prize,  is  an  insult  to  the  expanding  life- 
force  within  him.  At  first  thought,  one 
hesitates  to  accept  this  doctrine,  feeling 
that  in  so  doing  we  are  expecting  of  the  child 
a  response  to  an  appeal  that  he  is  not  ready 
for,  just  as  if  we  should  give  him  an  abstract 
idea  of  numbers  before  he  has  had  its  con- 
crete expression.  But  we  must  clearly  un- 
derstand the  distinction  she  makes  between 
that  sympathetic  relationship  established  be- 
tween the  child  and  his  parents  or  teacher, 
by  means  of  caresses  and  words  of  praise 
and  encouragement  for  what  is  well  done, 
[44] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

and  the  formal  bestowal  of  medals,  stars,  or 
other  prizes.  The  first  only  stimulates  his 
feeling  of  joy  in  accomplishment,  the  second 
puts  another  motive  first,  so  that  the  child 
is  trained  not  to  find  pleasure  in  the  work 
or  the  doing  of  it,  but  in  an  outside  reward. 
As  Dr.  Montessori's  controlling  idea  is  to 
liberate  the  spirit  of  the  child,  she  believes 
there  is  on  his  part  an  unconscious  response 
to  true  stimulus,  and  that  the  awakening 
soul  within  him  needs  only  the  spur  of 
activity  and  the  joy  of  successful  effort. 

As  a  physician  and  an  anthropologist,  she 
has  been  one  of  the  leaders  in  educational 
pathology.  Where  many  would  find  reason 
for  punishment,  she  looks  for  mental  or 
physical  defects  or  differences.  In  her 
illuminating  book,  "  Pedagogical  Anthro- 
pology," she  discusses  fully  the  doctrine  of 
punishment,  and  shows  that  she  is  in  accord 
with  the  most  advanced  ideas.  In  her 
schools,  the  careful  and  frequent  physical 
examination  of  the  child  takes  note  of  all 
defects.  Failing  to  find  in  an  apparently 
willful  and  naughty  child  any  physical  reason 
for  his  conduct,  she  assists  the  process  of 
growth  in  true  obedience  by  either  isolat- 
ing the  child  or  giving  him  that  discipline 
[45] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

which  comes  from  the  consequence  of  his 
actions.  If  the  child  is  isolated  he  is  caress- 
ed and  made  much  of  as  if  he  were  ill  and  to 
be  pitied  because  he  is  not  able  to  respond 
as  the  other  children  do,  and  in  some  mys- 
terious way  the  appeal  to  the  soul  within 
him  is  successful.  But  in  the  schools  where 
the  teachers  are  trained  in  the  spirit  of 
Montessori  I  saw  very  little  need  for  other 
discipline  than  that  coming  from  that  in- 
hibition of  acts  which  I  have  already  dis- 
cussed. If  the  two-fold  nature  of  true  lib- 
erty, expression  and  inhibition,  is  kept  in 
mind  and  the  balance  between  them  pre- 
served, the  necessity  for  punishment,  so- 
called,  will  be  avoided. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  discipline  through 
consequence,  an  illustration  may  be  given 
from  an  experience  in  one  of  the  schools  last 
winter.  In  this  school  the  children  came 
from  the  families  of  the  very  poor,  so  hy- 
gienic precautions  were  very  necessary. 
Here,  as  in  other  schools,  the  children  are 
obliged  to  wear  clean  aprons  which  they 
must  bring  from  home,  so  that  the  material 
used  in  common  may  be  protected.  That 
morning  two  little  sisters  came  with  clean 
hands  and  faces,  but  without  their  aprons. 
[46] 


DISCIPLINE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 

Instead  of  sending  them  home  in  disgrace, 
the  teacher,  who  had  been  trained  under 
Montessori,  told  them  that  as  the  Montessori 
games  could  not  be  used  by  children  unless 
they  had  aprons  to  keep  them  clean,  they 
could  only  use  the  material  belonging  to 
themselves,  such  as  pencils  or  drawing  paper. 
They  spent  the  morning  with  these,  but  it 
was  a  lesson  they  will  never  forget,  and  I 
believe  the  offence  will  never  be  repeated. 
In  my  own  class  last  summer,  I  had  a  lit- 
tle boy  who  at  first  was  inclined  to  abuse 
the  material  by  knocking  it  roughly  about. 
When  I  told  him  that  this  showed  me  he  was 
too  much  of  a  baby  to  use  it  properly,  and 
that  I  must  find  something  he  could  use,  he 
reformed  at  once.  So  the  appeal  is  always 
to  the  growing  soul  within  the  child  as  the 
motive  is  joy  in  success  and  pleasure  in 
activity. 

This  survey  of  some  of  the  underlying 
principles  of  Dr.  Montessori's  system  of 
education  would  be  incomplete  without  a 
brief  reference  to  those  ideals  which  they 
embody  which  we  might  call  spiritual.  To 
Dr.  Montessori's  deeply  religious  nature,  all 
training  which  is  true  is  training  in  right- 
eousness, and  no  child  can  possess  that  real 
[47] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

liberty  of  spirit  which  she  desires  for  him 
unless  his  spiritual  as  well  as  physical  and 
mental  nature  is  developed  through  untram- 
melled freedom.  If,  as  she  believes,  a  child 
is  religious  by  nature,  the  love  of  goodness, 
as  well  as  the  love  of  knowledge,  is  instinc- 
tive in  the  child,  and  needs  only  proper  cul- 
ture in  order  that  it  may  grow  into  life 
habits.  A  complete  education,  then,  is  the 
perfecting  of  the  child's  whole  nature,  and 
the  conscious  stimulation  of  his  life  force. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  a  teacher  may  exercise 
her  highest  function:  "To  persuade  the  har- 
vest and  bring  on  the  deeper  green. " 


[48] 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  TWO-FOLD  FUNCTION  OF  EDUCATION 

"Our    aim    in    education    is    two-fold — biological   and 
social." 

MANY  definitions  of  education  have  been 
formulated  from  the  time  of  Plato  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  but  if  we  turn  to  modern  psychol- 
ogy we  shall  find,  I  think,  a  guide  to  the 
true  interpretation  and  clear  expression  of 
this  word.  Psychology  calls  itself  the  science 
of  consciousness — that  mysterious  power 
within  ourselves  which  we  can  realise  but 
not  define — and  teaches  us  that  the  purpose 
of  this  consciousness  is  a  double  one,  in  that 
it  should  not  only  gain  for  us  knowledge  of 
the  world  outside  of  our  personality  which 
we  call  environment,  but  should  help  us, 
as  well,  to  adjust  and  adapt  ourselves  to 
that  environment,  and  also,  when  necessary, 
to  modify  it.  In  other  words,  it  leads  to 
knowledge  and  to  the  highest  development 
of  character  through  action.  It  also  teaches 
us  that  our  nervous  system,  as  the  instru- 
ment of  consciousness,  has  a  double  function : 
[49] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

first,  to  bring  to  consciousness  by  means  of 
the  nerves  of  sensation  and  the  centers  in 
the  brain  the  material  for  a  greater  and 
greater  fullness  of  knowledge;  second,  to 
carry  out  by  means  of  the  motor  centers  and 
nerves  the  commands  of  that  totality  of  con- 
sciousness which  we  call  Will,  which  result  in 
action  or  conduct.  If  we  accept  these  state- 
ments, then  we  ought  to  define  education 
as  the  method  by  which  this  two-fold 
function  of  consciousness  is  established 
through  the  full  development  of  our  con- 
sciousness and  the  perfecting  of  its  instru- 
ment, the  nervous  system.  Education  is 
thus  thought  of  as  being  on  two  planes — the 
higher  in  its  relation  to  consciousness,  and 
the  lower  in  its  relation  to  our  nervous 
system.  Any  theory  of  education  to  be  in 
accord  with  these  psychological  tenets  must 
provide  for  the  full  development  of  each 
child  on  both  of  these  planes,  a  material  or 
lower  and  a  spiritual  or  higher.  On  the 
lower  plane  is  the  consideration  how  we 
can  perfect  the  nervous  system — how  best 
develop  inherited  impulses,  instincts  and  re- 
flexes into  habits;  how  we  can  co-ordinate 
our  motor  life  and  how  acquire  the  needed 
technique  for  a  proper  mastery  of  our  envi- 
[50] 


TWO-FOLD  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

ronment.  On  the  higher  plane  lies  the 
problem  how  to  develop  our  consciousness 
through  the  enrichment  first  of  our  life  of 
sensation,  then  of  perception,  apperception 
and  conception,  all  of  which  give  us  knowl- 
edge and  power  of  thought;  and  also  the 
problem  how  to  develop  that  totality  of 
activity  which  we  call  the  will  and  thus  grow 
to  the  full  stature  of  our  possibilities  as  man 
made  in  the  image  of  God.  Such  an  ideal 
of  education  is  never  reached  by  humanity, 
for  all  systems  of  education  have  the  head  of 
gold  but  the  feet  of  clay.  Even  so,  I  believe 
that  if  we  consider  Dr.  Montessori's  theories 
and  the  material  embodying  them  on  both 
the  material  and  spiritual  plane,  we  shall 
find  great  possibilities  in  it  for  education 
in  its  two-fold  function,  biological  and  social. 
The  Montessori  method  by  its  training  of 
the  senses  and  of  the  power  of  observation 
develops  the  child  along  the  lower  plane 
first,  that  is  biologically;  while  in  its  intellec- 
tual training  in  perception,  conception  and 
power  of  abstract  thinking,  it  prepares  a 
child  as  a  social  being  first  to  understand  and 
then  to  mould  his  environment.  It  is  such 
power  to  adapt  environment  to  suit  the  grow- 
ing needs  of  civilisation  that  differentiates 
[51] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

highly  developed  man  from  the  lower  animal 
or  the  savage.  Such  a  broad  conception  of 
education  as  I  have  outlined  includes  as  the 
highest  function  of  all  that  spiritual  growth 
which  is  the  result  of  the  complete  flower- 
ing of  personality,  and  complete  adaptation 
to  environment. 

In  the  study  which  follows  we  should  keep 
in  mind,  then,  the  spiritual  ideal  which  is 
the  goal  of  true  education  as  we  trace  step 
by  step  this  method  from  its  beginning  on 
the  lower  or  physical  plane. 

Dr.  Montessori's  first,  though  by  no  means 
only,  concern  as  a  physician,  anthropologist, 
and  psychologist  is  with  the  physical  side 
of  the  child's  life;  and  her  years  of  experience 
in  hospitals  and  asylums  have  fitted  her  to 
be  our  guide  to  a  full  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  his  growth.  In  America  more  than  in 
Italy,  perhaps,  the  field  is  ready  for  such 
teaching,  owing  to  the  researches  of  educa- 
tional psychologists  like  Dewey  and  Thorn- 
dike  and  to  experimental  work  such  as  is 
carried  on  in  institutions  of  psycho-medical 
and  psychic  research  and  in  schools  for  the 
feeble-minded  such  as  Vineland.  Tests  have 
already  been  applied  in  many  of  our  public 
schools  in  order  to  discover  the  backward 
[52] 


TWO-FOLD  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

and  the  abnormal  or  defective  child;  but  we 
are  far  from  that  ideal  condition  desired 
by  Dr.  Montessori,  wherein  the  teacher,  the 
physician  and  the  parent  shall  combine  to 
make  a  systematic,  intelligent  and  scientific 
study  of  every  child,  normal  or  abnormal, 
proficient  or  deficient,  week  by  week,  month 
by  month  and  year  by  year;  at  the  same  time 
keeping  records  which  shall  be  the  guide  of 
each  teacher  in  turn  as  the  child  passes  from 
one  to  another  in  his  progress  in  the  schools. 
Let  us  hope  the  day  will  soon  come  when 
such  observation  and  examination  of  each 
child  as  the  Montessori  system  provides  for 
will  cause  each  to  be  measured  by  psycholog- 
ical and  biological  tests,  so  that  his  age  will 
not  be  thought  of  according  to  the  arbitrary 
date  of  his  birth,  but  according  to  his  real 
development,  mentally  and  physically.  Such 
a  " school  within  the  home"  as  I  have  de- 
scribed in  Chapter  I,  with  its  unique  co- 
operation of  parent,  teacher  and  physician, 
and  with  its  careful,  systematised  measure- 
ments and  records,  affording  unparalleled 
opportunities  for  child  study,  we  have  yet 
to  see  in  this  country;  and  until  we  have  it, 
we  cannot  follow  exactly  the  directions  given 
in  her  book,  but,  as  in  other  cases,  we  must 
[53] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

apply  the  principle  of  adaptation  to  our  own 
conditions. 

Because  Dr.  Montessori  considers  so  care- 
fully the  physical  nature  of  the  child,  she 
also  provides  for  his  nutrition.  In  the  schools 
in  Rome,  inspired  or  directed  by  her,  a 
special  system  of  diet  is  followed,  such  as  is 
described  in  the  chapter  on  Children's  Diet 
in  her  "  Scientific  Pedagogy."  Here  again 
it  would  be  impossible  and  undesirable  to 
follow  this  advice  literally,  but  if  we  are  true 
to  the  desire  to  make  the  spirit  which  ani- 
mates her  our  own,  we  need  not  hesitate  to 
adopt  such  modifications  as  are  necessary. 

Dr.  Montessori' s  controlling  principle  of 
liberty  for  the  child  in  the  spontaneous 
manifestations  of  his  activity,  which  is 
also  a  means  of  moral  discipline  as  these 
manifestations  become  organised  through 
work,  must  be  borne  in  mind  from  the  start 
as  we  study  the  so-called  didactic  material 
she  has  devised  to  assist  this  liberation  of 
his  life  force.  As  her  knowledge  of  medicine 
fits  her  to  give  especial  care  to  the  physical 
side  of  the  child's  life,  so  her  sociological 
views  aid  her  to  secure  a  fitting  environment 
for  him;  so  this  material  is  never,  in  a  true 
Montessori  school,  placed  in  the  hands  of 
[54] 


TWO-FOLD  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

the  pupil  until  he  has  been  fitted  to  his 
surroundings,  and  an  environment  has  been 
carefully  prepared  for  him  according  to  his 
own  laws  of  time  and  space,  so  different 
from  those  of  maturity.  We,  therefore,  find 
that  in  a  " Children's  House"  everything 
is,  or  should  be,  on  a  scale  proportionate 
to  these  laws.  The  hours  are  long  so  as  to 
provide  for  the  slow  response  to  stimulus 
and  the  leisurely  activity  which  is  character- 
istic of  the  little  child.  While  the  teacher  is 
guided  in  her  suggestions  by  the  passage  of 
time,  the  child  is  not  made  conscious  of  it 
and  is  never  hurried.  The  furnishings  of  the 
rooms  are  also  true  to  the  child's  scale  of 
dimensions.  The  tables  are  low,  broad, 
light,  so  they  can  be  carried  about,  yet  firm 
and  solid.  The  chairs  are  also  low,  com- 
fortable and  easy  to  move.  The  material 
is  placed  about  the  room  in  cases  which  are 
within  the  reach  of  childish  fingers.  The 
large  windows  are  so  near  the  floor  that  the 
children  can  look  out  freely.  The  wash- 
stands,  lavatories  and  shelves  or  hooks 
for  wearing  apparel  and  towels  are  all  so 
arranged  that  they  can  be  used  by  each 
child  without  strain.  Little  squares  of  felt, 
rolled  up  and  kept  in  corners  of  the  room. 
[55] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

can  be  quickly  shaken  out  and  placecfon  the 
floor  by  any  child.  The  blackboards  are 
low,  the  chalk  and  erasers  are  all  within 
reach.  Plants  and  flowers  are  arranged 
about  the  room  so  that  the  children  can 
take  care  of  them.  If  there  is  a  garden,  it 
is  easily  accessible,  and  each  child  has  his 
own  bed  to  care  for  as  he  chooses,  and  ani- 
mals to  love  and  tend.  The  rest-room  with 
its  hammocks,  easy  chairs,  picture-books  and 
playthings,  is  to  be  freely  used.  On  the 
wall  of  the  schoolroom  is  usually  found  a 
large  framed  photograph  of  the  royal  chil- 
dren and  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  Madonna  of 
the  Chair.  The  floors  of  dark  red  Roman 
tiles  are  very  effective  and  hygienic  at  the 
same  time. 

Such  a  house  for  children,  fitted  to  their 
needs,  belongs  to  them  and  is  as  it  should 
be  in  their  care.  Therefore  the  first  les- 
sons are  those  which  develop  a  sense  of 
responsibility,  a  feeling  of  collective  owner- 
ship, and  a  care  for  property.  I  arrived  at 
a  school  in  Rome  one  morning  before  the 
teacher  or  her  assistant.  The  rooms  were 
open  and  several  of  the  children  who  were 
there  early  were  busily  engaged  in  wiping 
off  the  chairs,  tables,  window-ledges  and 
[56] 


TWO-FOLD  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

tops  of  shelves;  watering  the  plants,  and 
caring  for  the  bird  cages;  and  the  entrance 
of  the  teacher  caused  no  interruption,  so 
absorbed  were  they  in  their  work.  This 
training  in  neatness,  order  and  cleanliness 
is  extended  to  the  children  themselves.  The 
universal  Roman  custom  of  wearing  aprons 
seems  to  me  excellent  from  a  hygienic 
standpoint,  as  they  are  brought  clean  from 
home,  kept  in  the  school-house  and  put  on 
for  the  same  reason  that  the  nurse  or  doctor 
in  a  hospital  puts  on  his  gown,  to  protect 
the  material.  They  add  also  to  the  neat, 
attractive  appearance  of  the  children.  In 
most  of  the  schools,  the  boys  wear  aprons  of 
one  colour  and  cut  and  the  girls  of  another. 
The  name  of  the  child  is  usually  in  script 
on  the  front  of  the  apron,  and  very  often 
bows  of  ribbon  of  some  particular  colour 
fasten  the  apron  at  the  shoulders.  In  one 
of  the  municipal  schools  I  visited,  the  chil- 
dren all  wore  yellow  bows  on  their  white 
aprons.  In  another  school  the  girls  in  one 
of  the  rooms  had  bows,  blotting-paper  for 
their  desks  and  paper  covers  for  their  books 
all  of  the  same  dark,  rich  shade  of  blue. 

The  children  love  the  feeling  of  absolute 
cleanliness.     They  are  at  once  taught  the 
[57] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

proper  use  of  soap  and  water,  and  are  made 
to  realise  how  much  keener  the  tactile 
sense  is  when  their  hands  are  clean,  and 
so  take  pleasure  in  keeping  them  in  good 
condition.  The  fineness  of  touch  thus  de- 
veloped makes  them  sensitive  to  the  least 
dust.  One  day  the  children  of  a  certain 
school  came  back  from  then-  recess  in  the 
garden  and  took  their  places  in  their  usual 
seats.  One  little  girl  thought  she  felt  some 
dust,  which  was  not  visible  to  the  eye,  on 
her  table  top.  So  she  rose  quietly,  went  to 
the  closet  for  a  dust-cloth  and  without  a 
word  wiped  off,  not  only  her  own  table,  but 
all  the  others. 

It  is  only,  therefore,  after  the  class  has 
become  accustomed  to  collective  order 
through  the  personal  care  each  one  gives 
to  the  room  and  himself,  that  a  child  is 
introduced  to  the  didactic  material.  Dr. 
Montessori  expects  days  of  disorder  and 
confusion  in  the  school  until  within  the  soul 
of  each  child  there  arises  a  sense  of  the 
beauty  of  order  and  of  cleanliness,  and  until 
each  has  come  into  close  personal  relation 
with  his  teacher.  Dr.  Montessori's  state- 
ment that  "a  room  is  in  good  order  when  all 
the  children  move  about  usefully,  intelli- 
[58] 


TWO-FOLD  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

gently  and  voluntarily  without  committing 
any  rough  or  rude  act"  seemed  to  me  most 
fully  illustrated  by  a  school  which  at  its  open- 
ing in  the  fall  was  the  despair  of  the  teacher 
on  account  of  its  disorder,  so  that  she 
finished  each  day  in  tears.  But  this  teacher 
had  in  her  own  mind  a  clear  conception  of 
what  true  order  meant,  and  patience  and 
wisdom  in  establishing  it  through  gradual 
training  in  repression  as  well  as  expression, 
until  an  ideal  of  order  and  of  good  as  opposed 
to  evil  was  made  real  to  each  child,  and  the 
desire  and  ability  to  gain  it  came  to  him. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  point  out  how  the 
Montessori  Method,  by  its  biological  and 
psychological  tests,  its  physical  care  of  the 
child,  its  attention  to  sense  training  (espe- 
cially at  first  of  the  tactile  sense),  its  attempt 
to  awaken  the  power  of  observation,  may  if 
properly  understood  and  applied,  educate  the 
child  along  the  biological  or  lower  plane;  and 
simultaneously  by  virtue  of  its  didactic  ma- 
terial develop  in  the  child  a  sense  of  collec- 
tive order  and  responsibility  and  thus  fit  him 
socially  for  an  environment  already  thought- 
fully adapted  to  his  laws  and  needs;  after 
which  the  way  to  his  intellectual  develop- 
ment (education  along  the  higher  plane)  is 
[59] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

open.  To  all  who  can  discern  so  much  in 
it  the  Montessori  system,  in  agreement  with 
our  definition  in  the  beginning  of  the  chapter, 
will  justify  itself  as  a  system  of  education 
which  makes  for  the  all-round  development 
of  the  child.  It  is  my  purpose  in  the  two 
chapters  immediately  following,  to  give  a  de- 
tailed account  of  this  motor  and  sensory  edu- 
cation, and  later  on  to  explain  still  further 
its  application  along  the  higher  or  intel- 
lectual plane,  which  includes  the  spiritual. 


[60] 


CHAPTER  V. 

PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 
"The  aim  of  education  is  to  develop  the  energies." 

IN  the  description  in  the  previous  chapter 
of  the  environment  prepared  for  the  child 
in  a  Montessori  school,  that  he  may  begin 
his  education  under  proper  social  conditions, 
allusion  was  made  to  some  of  the  exercises 
in  practical  life  which  the  children  are  given, 
such  as  taking  care  of  themselves,  of  the 
room,  and  of  plants  and  animals.  These 
exercises  may  also  be  considered  as  the 
beginning  of  the  child's  motor  education, 
which  is  more  fully  provided  for  by  the 
Montessori  system  of  gymnastics  or  muscu- 
lar training.  Her  definition  of  such  muscu- 
lar education  is  a  very  broad  one  and  she 
sees  in  it  a  three-fold  purpose:  first,  to  aid 
the  normal  development  of  the  child's  physi- 
ological movements,  such  as  walking,  breath- 
ing or  talking;  second,  to  assist  his  muscular 
co-ordination;  and  third,  to  inhibit  useless, 
dangerous  or  improper  movements,  thus 
[61] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

relating  gymnastics  in  its  broadest  sense  to 
moral  training  and  self-discipline.  She  would 
agree,  I  think,  with  G.  Stanley  Hall  (Adoles- 
cence, Chapter  III,  p.  132)  that:  "For  the 
young,  motor  education  is  cardinal  and  is 
now  coming  to  due  recognition,  and  for  all, 
education  is  incomplete  without  a  motor 
side.  Skill,  endurance  and  perseverance 
may  almost  be  called  muscular  virtues;  and 
fatigue,  velleity,  caprice,  ennui,  restlessness, 
lack  of  control  and  poise,  muscular  faults." 
The  first  purpose,  that  of  aiding  the  de- 
velopment physiologically,  is  gained  chiefly 
by  means  of  the  gymnastic  apparatus  and 
other  exercises  which  she  has  adapted 
to  the  peculiar  structure  of  children.  Her 
medical  experiences  have  proved  to  her  that 
the  child  develops  anatomically  very  irregu- 
larly, and  that  his  body  or  trunk  which 
contains  the  vital  organs  grows  much  faster 
than  his  extremities  and  is  therefore  in  his 
early  years  out  of  all  proportion  to  them. 
After  my  attention  was  again  directed  to 
this  fact  in  Rome  I  studied  with  a  new  inter- 
est the  faithful  portrayal  of  the  child's 
physique  by  the  old  masters,  Raphael,  Mich- 
ael Angelo  and  Fra  Lippo  Lippi  and  under- 
stood as  I  never  had  before  the  short  legs 
[62] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

and  large  bodies  of  the  children  in  the  many 
"Holy  Families"  to  be  seen  in  the  galleries. 
She  also  believes  in  giving  the  very  young 
child  every  opportunity  to  indulge  to  the 
utmost  his  propensity  to  stretch  himself, 
to  kick,  to  walk  on  all  fours,  to  throw  him- 
self prone  on  the  ground,  and  in  all  the  other 
ways  by  which  he  instinctively  keeps  his 
weight  from  off  his  legs  and  so  prevents 
undue  strain.  Many  of  her  exercises  for 
little  children  are  definitely  planned  to 
lessen  the  weight  of  the  torso  or  trunk  on 
the  extremities.  One  is  like  the  Swedish 
bom  with  parallel  bars  firmly  affixed  to 
upright  poles  on  which  the  children  can  pass 
along  the  bars  suspended  by  their  hands. 
She  has  devised  a  swing  with  such  a  wide 
seat  that  the  child's  feet  do  not  hang  down 
and  his  legs  are  supported  by  it.  This 
apparatus  is  swung  near  a  board  or  wall, 
against  which  the  child  pushes  his  feet  in 
order  to  keep  the  swing  in  motion,  and  so 
strengthens  his  ankles.  They  may,  while  still 
seated  in  these  chairs,  vary  the  exercise,  by 
playing  with  rubber  balls  hung  on  cords.  In 
this  way  the  arms  and  spinal  column  are 
exercised.  She  has  also  devised  numerous 
exercises  with  rope  ladders  to  assist  the 
[63] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

child  in  gaining  equilibrium  and  poise  in 
kneeling,  rising,  walking  and  running;  and 
others  to  increase  his  chest  expansion.  She 
realises  that  as  the  most  primitive  of  the 
senses  is  that  of  touch,  so  the  most  primitive 
action  of  the  hand  is  prehension  or  grasping, 
the  forerunner  of  all  its  more  delicate  move- 
ments, and  she  regards  the  ladder,  the  swing 
and  the  bom  valuable  for  exercises  prepara- 
tory to  training  in  sense  perception  through 
touch.  Here  again  she  is  in  full  accord  with 
modern  psychology,  which  teaches  us  that 
the  hand  is  second  only  to  the  brain  as  in- 
strumental in  the  development  of  the  higher 
consciousness  of  the  human  being,  as  con- 
trasted with  that  of  the  lower  animals. 
Other  exercises  which  serve  this  first  pur- 
pose, the  development  of  physiological 
movements,  are  those  of  walking  on  a  line, 
exercises  for  deep  breathing,  and  those 
which  teach  proper  articulation,  enunciation 
and  pronunciation. 

Parents  who  really  desire  to  assist  this 
last-named  development  of  speech  should 
give  up  the  fond  and  foolish  notion  that 
"baby  talk,"  so  called,  is  cunning  and  to  be 
encouraged;  and  instead,  should  vigorously 
resist  all  temptation  to  enjoy  the  early  de- 
[64] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

fects  of  children,  such  as  lisping,  substitution 
of  one  sound  for  another,  and  failure  to 
pronounce  at  all  certain  sounds.  They  can, 
on  the  other  hand,  help  instead  of  hinder  the 
child's  later  progress  by  giving  him  those 
exercises  which  he  needs  to  develop  the  mus- 
cles of  the  lips  and  tongue.  In  place  of  the 
Italian  words  for  muscular  training  which 
are  found  on  page  148  of  "The  Montessori 
Method/ '  I  suggest  the  following  English 
equivalents,  to  be  used  in  the  same  way: 
Papa — father — ta  ta — zebra — stilly — rab- 
bit. The  Italian  children  are  accustomed, 
of  course,  by  the  very  nature  of  their  lan- 
guage to  much  more  careful  enunciation  of 
the  consonant  sounds  than  American  chil- 
dren are,  and  there  is  more  need  for  us  to 
adopt  exercises  which  will  offset  our  own 
slipshod  use  of  our  vowel  and  consonant 
sounds.  The  exercises  in  careful  and  exact 
nomenclature,  which  are  a  part  of  the  sense 
training,  may,  with  profit,  be  begun  by  moth- 
ers as  they  teach  their  children  the  names  of 
various  objects.  In  America  this  training 
is  too  often  neglected  in  the  home  and  some- 
times in  the  kindergarten,  and  left  to  the 
teachers  in  the  primary  grades,  where  it  is 
often  too  late  to  correct  bad  habits  of  voice 
[65] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

placing  (nasal  or  head  tones),  and  of  articu- 
lation which  should  not  have  been  allowed 
to  be  formed.  Our  custom  of  teaching 
songs  to  groups  of  children  in  our  kinder- 
garten and  schools  is  in  some  measure  to 
blame  for  this  tendency  to  careless  enuncia- 
tion, as  the  many  amusing  stories  of  childish 
perversions  of  familiar  hymns  and  songs  will 
prove. 

The  second  purpose  of  motor  education, 
to  assist  muscular  co-ordination,  is  gained 
chiefly  through  the  use  of  the  wooden  frames 
fitted  with  cloth  of  various  kinds  intended  for 
practice  in  buttoning,  lacing,  hooking,  snap- 
ping and  tying  of  bow-knots,  as  well  as  by  the 
more  purely  sensory  exercises,  such  as  the 
Big  and  Long  Stairs,  the  Tower  and  the 
Solid  Insets  which  have  this  secondary  value 
also.  Since  my  return  from  Italy,  I  have 
watched  with  new  eyes  our  American  chil- 
dren, and  I  firmly  believe  they  need  training 
in  muscular  co-ordination  more  than  do 
Italian  children.  We  must  always  keep  in 
mind  the  fund  of  nervous  energy  which  is 
the  child's  birthright.  This  native  endow- 
ment I  believe  to  be  greater  in  the  American 
child;  but  so  far  it  has  not  been  utilised 
because  of  a  lack  of  training  in  co-ordina- 
[66] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

tion  due  to  the  fact  that  so  much  of  his 
play  has  been  aimless.  Froebel,  as  we  all 
know,  suggested  in  his  wonderful  book, 
"Mother  Play,"  many  exercises  for  proper 
co-ordination  of  muscular  activities,  but 
they  are  much  more  limited  in  their  scope 
than  those  of  Dr.  Montessori  and  therefore 
more  barren  of  results. 

The  third  purpose,  that  of  inhibition  of 
all  useless,  dangerous  or  improper  movements 
is  obtained  in  many  ways.  Montessori 
believes  as  firmly  as  did  Froebel  that  the 
cure  for  wrong  activity  is  not  inaction  but 
is  right  activity,  and  the  formation  of 
right  habits  to  take  the  place  of  useless  or 
wrong  ones.  The  children  are  taught  to 
walk  quietly  on  the  balls  of  their  feet,  and 
are  given  exercises  for  grace  in  walking,  in 
bowing,  shaking  hands  and  in  simple  dance 
forms.  All  selfish  use  of  the  material  is  also 
inhibited,  as  they  are  not  allowed  to  take 
games  from  each  other,  or  to  push,  shove,  or 
crowd  one  another.  At  their  luncheon  each 
child  waits  with  hands  folded  until  all  are 
served.  The  game  of  silence  where  the 
children  learn  with  delight  wonderful  lessons 
in  self-control,  the  muscular  training  in 
co-ordination,  provided  for  by  all  the  ma- 
[67] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

terial,  the  ideal  for  discipline,  all  combine 
to  give  the  child  increasing  power  of  both 
inhibition  and  co-ordination,  the  great  se- 
cret of  true  discipline  and  obedience. 

Since  my  return  from  Italy  I  have  heard  the 
statement  often  made  that  Dr.  Montessori 
does  not  believe  in  play.  Like  many  other 
criticisms  this  has  arisen  from  a  misap- 
prehension, this  time  of  her  allusion  to 
" foolish  and  degrading  toys"  (Montessori 
Method,  p.  372)  a  phrase  which  has  been 
wrested  from  its  connection  and  misapplied. 
Dr.  Montessori  believes  that  a  child  is  in 
earnest  in  his  play  and  loves  to  give  it 
meaning.  She  encourages  free  play  there- 
fore as  a  part  of  the  child's  motor  training 
and  suggests  many  of  FroebePs  games 
with  songs,  and  approves  of  balls,  kites, 
hoops,  bean  bags,  games  of  tag  or  "Puss  in 
the  corner."  All  these  are  active,  all  de- 
velop the  children  physically  and  exercise 
their  intelligence  while  they  are  at  the  same 
time  expressing  their  spontaneous  choice. 
She  directs  her  sarcasm  against  such  mechan- 
ical toys  as  are  always  to  be  found  in  our 
shops  which  afford  no  opportunity  for  the 
child  to  show  his  constructive  ability. 

Montessori  also  includes  as  a  part  of 
[68] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

gymnastics  what  we  should  call  nature 
work.  The  out-door  life  of  the  children  is 
encouraged  by  gardening — little  gardens  to 
be  cultivated  by  the  children  and  animals 
to  be  taken  care  of — and  in  all  the  activities 
connected  with  these  out-of-door  occupa- 
tions, she  sees  very  valuable  exercises  in 
poise,  in  co-ordination  and  in  numerous 
other  ways. 

But  nature  study  in  its  largest  sense  has 
to  Dr.  Montessori  a  social  and  a  moral 
value  even  more  than  a  physical  one.  She 
recognises  in  Itard's  wonderful  experience 
in  gradually  weaning  the  savage  of  the 
Aveyron  from  his  absorption  in  wild  nature 
and  leading  him  to  some  measure  of  social 
life,  a  precious  example  to  be  applied  to  the 
education  of  normal  children.  Man  is  a 
social  being  and  finds  his  highest  completion 
not  in  isolation  but  in  community  life. 
But  he  is  also  a  child  of  nature  and  must  be 
prepared  for  society  by  a  gradual  transition 
from  a  life  as  nearly  natural  as  possible  to 
one  in  which  the  limits  set  by  society  are 
felt.  She  therefore  urges  a  large  measure 
of  out-door  life  under  the  simplest  condi- 
tions in  connection  with  plants  and  animals, 
not  only  for  its  physical  effect  on  children, 
[691 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

but  for  the  social  and  moral  training  in- 
volved. She  notes  the  following  steps  in 
progress  in  this  direction :  First,  observation 
of  life  phenomena,  which  leads  to  interest  in 
and  care  for  plants  and  animals;  this  leads 
to  forethought  as  the  child  realises  their 
dependence  on  him,  which  is  a  step  in  his 
auto-education.  This  again  develops  the 
virtue  of  patience  as  he  waits  for  the  plants 
to  grow  from  the  seeds  he  has  planted  and  of 
expectation  which  is  a  form  of  faith.  In  the 
next  step  there  arises  in  the  child  a  true 
love  for  nature  which  leads  to  a  care  of  all 
life,  an  interest  in  all  its  manifestations,  and 
a  confidence  which  prevents  causeless  fear. 
Last  of  all,  the  life  of  the  child  corresponds 
to  the  natural  progress  of  the  human  race. 

Dr.  Montessori  makes  a  distinction  be- 
tween manual  gymnastics,  the  physical  side 
of  nature  work,  and  manual  labor  which 
makes  a  finished  product;  but  she  realises 
that  this  distinction  is  theoretical  rather 
than  practical  and  that  manual  training  is 
necessary  as  a  factor  in  education.  But  her 
experience  in  manual  training  as  we  under- 
stand it  in  America  is  very  limited.  We 
should,  as  in  the  case  of  children's  diet, 
accept  her  principle  of  spontaneity  and  liberty 
[70] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

in  this  as  in  other  processes  of  education  and 
apply  it  to  our  own  well-developed  system. 
She  has  adopted  in  her  schools  free  work  in 
clay,  together  with  vase  forms — which  af- 
fords opportunity  for  the  spontaneous  ex- 
pression of  the  child's  personality — and  con- 
structive work  with  brick  tiles,  first  of  a  wall 
and  then  of  a  complete  house.  Here  again 
she  finds  a  social  and  moral  as  well  as  a 
physical  value  through  the  muscular  control 
gained  in  all  these  ways. 

Physical  training  to  Dr.  Montessori  em- 
braces all  the  motor  side  of  a  child's  develop- 
ment, whether  physiological,  muscular  or 
inhibitive.  It  has  been  necessary  to  make  a 
separate  study  of  it  just  as  we  shall  study 
sensory  education  in  the  following  chapter; 
but  there  is  no  separation  in  the  child's 
life,  for  physical,  mental  and  moral  training 
are  a  trinity  in  unity. 


[71] 


CHAPTER  VI 

SENSORY  EDUCATION 
"A  game  is  a  free  activity  ordered  to  a  definite  end." 

IN  the  theory  of  education  set  forth  in 
Dr.  Montessori's  book,  the  education  of  the 
senses  takes  a  very  important  place,  because 
it  is  only  by  the  perfecting  of  the  sensory- 
motor-nervous  system  that  the  fully  devel- 
oped conscious  life  of  the  individual  is 
gained,  which  is  our  ideal.  We  have  dis- 
cussed, in  a  separate  chapter,  the  principles 
and  methods  of  her  system  of  muscular 
education,  but  we  must  never  forget  that 
the  two  processes,  sensory  and  motor,  are 
united  in  the  human  being,  and  education 
in  them  both  goes  on  simultaneously.  Edu- 
cation has  long  concerned  itself  with  the 
motor  side  of  our  nature.  "To  learn  by 
doing"  is  a  familiar  precept.  But  the  sen- 
sory side,  while  not  in  any  sense  neglected, 
has  not  until  now  been  scientifically  studied, 
so  that  a  full  realisation  of  the  possibilities 
[72] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

of  sense  education  has  been  lacking.  Mon- 
tessori,  however,  in  her  theory  of  the  value 
of  sense  training  must  not  be  classed  with 
Pestalozzi,  for  she  is,  I  think,  in  accord  with 
those  American  psychologists  who  believe 
the  theory  of  formal  discipline  to  be  false. 
Her  purpose  is  to  give  each  child  a  full  sen- 
sory life,  as  early  as  possible,  that  his  brain 
cells  will  develop  and  paths  of  association 
between  them  be  formed.  Higher  powers 
of  observation,  conception  and  appercep- 
tion come  as  the  result  of  a  rich  sensory 
experience.  Herbart  taught  us  the  value 
of  apperception;  that  is,  the  recognition  in 
the  new  of  some  element  already  perceived; 
but  that  sensation  must  be  the  foundation 
for  perception,  apperception,  and  conception, 
he  would  have  admitted  as  freely  as  does 
Montessori.  The  Montessori  method,  in 
its  appeal  to  all  the  senses  and  in  practical 
devices  for  their  training,  is  unexcelled,  and 
by  it  new  fields  of  delight  are  open  to  the 
child. 

Modern  psychology  has  not  only  distin- 
guished more  of  our  senses  than  we  were 
formerly  supposed  to  possess,  but  has 
studied  them  more  closely  and  located  them 
more  exactly.  For  purposes  of  convenience 
[73] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

and  in  order  that  we  may  test  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori's  claim  for  her  system  that  it  affords 
complete  sense  training,  I  give  here  a  list 
of  the  senses  and  of  their  location  according 
to  the  latest  authorities,  with  whom  Dr. 
Montessori  is  in  agreement : 

Visual  or  sight — located  in  the  eyes. 

Audile  or  hearing — located  in  the  ears. 

Gustatory  or  taste — located  in  the  tongue  and 
palate. 

Olfactory  or  smell — located  in  the  nostrils. 

Tactile  or  touch — located  in  the  finger-tips 
(chiefly). 

Thermic  or  heat — located  in  the  skin. 

Baric  or  weight — located  in  the  tendons  and 
muscles. 

Stereognostic — fusion  of  tactile  and  muscular. 

Chromatic — sense  of  colour  (a  division  of 
visual). 

Each  sense  organ  is  connected  with  its 
especial  center  in  the  brain  or  spinal  cord  by 
means  of  sensory  nerves.  The  sensations 
reported  by  these  nerves  set  up  a  reaction 
which  affects  the  corresponding  motor  nerves 
and  lead  to  muscular  activity.  At  birth 
the  child  responds  in  an  impulsive,  reflex 
or  automatic  way  to  stimulation,  and  con- 
sciousness develops  slowly  with  the  needs 
[74] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

of  the  growing  child.  As  sensation  and 
motor  action  parallel  each  other,  little  by 
little  the  higher  centers  in  the  upper  brain 
or  cerebrum  function,  and  better  and  better 
connection  is  made  between  them,  so  that 
gradually  full  consciousness  with  power  of 
logical  thinking  succeeds  to  the  simple  re- 
flexes of  infancy.  In  order,  then,  that  the 
brain  cells  may  develop  and  paths  of  asso- 
ciation between  them  be  formed,  each  sense 
organ  should  receive  full  stimulation,  and  co- 
ordination of  motor  activity  in  its  turn  be 
encouraged.  Parents  and  educators  need 
to  be  familiar  with  this  order  of  normal 
growth  so  that  in  the  early  years  of  a  child's 
life  they  may  provide  ample  opportunity 
for  sense  stimulus;  and  should  expect  little 
logical  thought  or  power  of  generalisation 
until  the  higher  centers  begin  to  function 
and  paths  between  them  be  formed.  If  at 
this  period  the  laws  of  habit  and  attention 
are  obeyed,  the  general  as  well  as  the  specific 
effects  of  sense  training  will  be  obtained. 

In  the  normal  child  the  most  primitive 
sense  and  the  one  earliest  developed  is  that 
of  touch;  the  others  follow  probably  in  this 
order:  taste,  smell  (with  which  it  fuses), 
sight,  hearing,  then  the  thermic,  baric  and 
[75] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

stereognostic  senses.  But  the  natural  order 
of  development  is  modified  by  our  artificial 
civilisation,  so  that  when  a  child  comes  to 
kindergarten  or  school  his  sense  of  sight  is 
usually  the  one  most  highly  developed. 
Dr.  Montessori  is  in  accord  with  recent 
thought  when  she  lays  great  stress  on  the 
value  of  the  sense  of  touch,  and  in  her  early 
work  she  began  with  its  development,  but 
experience  has  taught  her  that  the  appeal  to 
the  modern  child  must  be  through  the  sense 
of  sight  first,  then  through  that  of  touch. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  take  advantage  of  the 
visual  sense  training  a  child  of  three  already 
has  had,  she  has  so  arranged  her  sequence 
of  exercises  as  to  begin  with  vision,  but  her 
aim  is  to  lead  the  child  to  depend  less  and 
less  upon  it  and  exercise  more  and  more  the 
other  senses,  especially  that  of  touch. 

Before  we  take  up  the  study  of  the  mate- 
rial for  developing  all  the  senses  we  must 
fix  clearly  in  our  minds  some  important 
principles.  First,  that  it  is  training,  not 
measurement  of  the  sense,  that  is  the  ideal 
to  be  kept  before  us  and  therefore  although 
much  of  the  material  may  be  similar  to  that 
used  by  scientists  for  purposes  of  measure- 
ment, in  the  hands  of  the  educator  (whether 
[76] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

teacher  or  parent),  its  function  is  to  exercise 
and  it  must  therefore  divert  and  not  weary 
the  child,  as  it  might  if  used  for  measure- 
ment. In  the  second  place,  there  must  be 
careful  training  and  practice  in  the  isolation 
of  the  senses  as  well  as  in  their  combination. 
The  custom  of  blindfolding  the  child  or 
accustoming  him  to  look  away  from  the 
material,  in  order  to  develop  the  sense  of 
touch  or  of  weight,  is  an  illustration  of  the 
first;  and  the  union  of  the  stereognostic 
sense  with  that  of  sight  and  sound  in  learning 
to  read  and  write  is  an  example  of  the  second. 
In  the  third  place,  we  must  remember  that 
Dr.  Montessori  considers  the  material  she 
has  invented  a  necessary  minimum  only  for 
education,  and  we  may  therefore  feel  free 
to  elaborate  and  expand  as  conditions  and 
experience  dictate,  provided  always  we  keep 
clearly  in  mind  the  principles  which  should 
guide  us.  I  found,  by  way  of  example, 
that  a  very  helpful  addition  to  the  frames 
used  in  motor-education,  as  I  shall  show 
more  in  detail  later,  was  one  for  braiding. 
I  also  elaborated  the  training  in  the  chro- 
matic sense  furnished  by  the  colour  spools 
by  the  use  of  fresh,  shaded  flowers,  like 
nasturtiums.  I  think  the  objection  often 
[77] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

made  to  this  material,  that  it  is  too  formal, 
may  be  avoided  in  this  way  and  that  we 
may  also  develop  its  possibilities  in  connec- 
tion with  nature  study.  It  is  also  to  be 
remembered  that  the  same  material  which 
when  used  by  the  teachers  of  the  feeble- 
minded makes  their  education  possible, 
can  stimulate  the  auto-education  of  the  nor- 
mal child  who  uses  it  by  himself.  This 
fact  is  significant  in  relation  to  two  valuable 
characteristics  of  this  method:  the  oppor- 
tunity it  affords  for  observation  of  the  child 
by  the  teacher  or  parent,  combined  with  the 
liberty  granted  to  the  child  in  its  use.  This 
will  be  treated  of  more  fully  in  the  chapter 
on  the  Montessori  Teacher,  where  we  shall 
see  in  it  the  possible  solution  of  the  modern 
problem,  how  we  may  have  at  the  same  time 
a  scientific  and  a  sympathetic  interest  in 
the  child,  so  necessary  if  we  are  to  be  success- 
ful in  our  vocation. 

This  principle  of  liberty  for  the  child 
who  at  first  uses  the  material  by  himself  and 
is  not  corrected  by  the  teacher  but  by  the 
material,  is  a  most  important  one  and  not 
easily  understood  or  applied  by  the  teacher 
trained  in  the  usual  kindergarten  or  elemen- 
tary school  methods  who  will  be  inclined 
[78] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

to  teach  instead  of  direct.  This  self-correc- 
tion leads  the  child  to  concentrate  his  atten- 
tion upon  differences  in  dimensions,  and  to 
compare  them,  which  is  a  most  valuable 
exercise  for  the  development  of  his  sensory 
system  as  related  to  his  conscious  life.  But 
there  is  no  question  as  yet  of  teaching  the 
formal  knowledge  of  dimensions  nor  of  mak- 
ing practical  use  of  the  material.  All  this 
comes  later.  This  first  period  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  material  is  in  strong  con- 
trast to  the  use  of  the  Froebelian  material  in 
the  kindergarten,  where  the  aim  of  the  teach- 
er from  the  first  is  to  furnish  knowledge. 
James,  in  his  Psychology,  makes  a  distinction 
between  " acquaintance  with"  and  " knowl- 
edge about"  a  thing,  meaning  by  the  first 
phrase  sensation  and  the  second  perception. 
In  the  Montessori  system  the  preliminary 
period,  of  sensation,  is  emphasised;  and  in  the 
kindergarten  the  second,  of  perception.  In 
this  preliminary  stage  it  is  very  important 
that  the  teacher  does  not  interfere  and 
equally  so  that  the  material  should  be  such 
as  to  allow  the  child  gradually  to  observe 
and  rectify  his  mistakes.  When  the  child 
performs  the  exercise  perfectly  without 
making  any  errors,  he  has  outgrown  it  and 
[79] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

its  only  value  is  for  occasional  repetition 
for  the  sake  of  drill. 

Neither  is  this  first  auto-education  of  the 
child  to  be  confused  with  those  concrete 
ideas  of  our  environment  which  may  be  later 
gained  by  its  means,  nor  with  the  careful 
training  in  the  use  of  language  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  abstract  idea.  Rather  should 
its  fundamental  purpose  always  be  kept  in 
mind,  which  is  to  increase  the  power  to 
recognise  differences  as  the  material  stimu- 
lates the  child's  attention  and  increases  his 
power  of  observation. 

This  methodical  yet  spontaneous  prelim- 
inary training  of  all  the  senses  in  turn  as  a 
preparation  for  further  education  by  means 
of  the  " three  periods"  under  the  guidance 
of  the  teacher,  is  justified  by  the  two-fold 
conception  of  education  upon  wrhich  so  much 
stress  has  been  laid,  namely,  biological  and 
social.  In  this  earliest  stage  it  is  with  the 
biological  purpose  that  we  are  chiefly,  though 
not  wholly,  concerned — that  is  the  natural 
growth  of  the  child  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  his  being,  so  that  his  nervous  system 
as  an  instrument  of  his  conscious  life  is  per- 
fected. To  fit  him  for  his  environment  and 
make  him  able  to  modify  his  environment  is 
[80] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

an  aim  to  be  achieved  after  his  senses  have 
been  trained. 

Before  a  study  of  the  material  in  detail 
is  made  it  will  be  helpful,  I  think,  to  have 
before  us  for  reference  a  list  of  it  as  it  is 
manufactured  in  America  by  the  "  House  of 
Childhood." 

Eight  Frames: 

Buttoning  on  red  flannel. 

Buttoning  on  drill  with  tapes. 

Buttoning  on  leather. 

Lacing  on  cloth. 

Lacing  on  leather. 

Hooks  and  eyes. 

Snaps. 

Tying  bow-knots. 

Solid  inset  with  ten  cylinders  of  equal  height 
varying  in  diameter. 

Solid  inset  with  ten  cylinders  of  equal  diam- 
eter varying  in  height. 

Solid  inset  with  ten  cylinders  varying  in  both 
height  and  diameter. 

Tower — ten  cubes  varying  in  size. 

The  Broad  Stair — ten  prisms  varying  in  height 
and  thickness. 

The  Long  Stair — ten  rods  varying  in  length. 

Two  Colour  Boxes — containing  64  reels  wound 
with  silk  of  eight  colours  and  eight  shades 
of  each  colour. 

[81] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

Two  boards  for  teaching  rough  and  smooth: 

Squares  of  wood  and  of  sandpaper. 

Alternate  strips  of  wood  and  of  sandpaper. 
Two   boxes   containing  fabrics — silk,  velvet, 

woolen,  cotton,  etc. 
Cabinet  for  wooden  geometric  insets  with  36 

insets  in  six  drawers. 
Box  for  metal  insets  with  ten  insets. 
Thirty-six  cards  with  geometric  forms  in  solid 

blue  colour. 
Thirty-six  cards  with  geometric  forms  in  heavy 

blue  line. 
Thirty-six  cards  with  geometric  forms  in  light 

black  line. 

Two  drawing  tables. 

Adjustable  wooden  frame  to  hold  the  insets. 
Box  with  sandpaper  alphabet. 
Box  with  sandpaper  numbers. 
Two  boxes  with  script  alphabets. 
Three  sets  of  wooden  tablets  for  Baric  sense 

training. 

Two  Counting  boxes  with  fifty  sticks. 
One  Counting  case  containing  sliding  shelves 

and  cards  with  numbers. 
Six  Sound  boxes. 

I  give  also  the  names  of  the  32  geometric 
figures  used: 

One  square. 
Five  rectangles. 
Four  quadrilaterals. 
[82] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

Six  circles. 
Six  triangles. 

Six  polygons  from  pentagon  to  decagon. 
Four  curved  figures — ellipse,  oval,  three 
and  four  segments  of  arcs. 

Together  with  the  above  are  used  the 
bricks  and  cubes  of  Froebel,  balls  of  wool 
of  different  colours,  discs  similar  to  those 
used  in  games  for  counting,  building  blocks, 
Faber's  coloured  pencils  and  drawing  paper, 
clay,  corns,  seeds  and  grains,  and  numerous 
toys.  I  have  found  it  useful  to  add  to  the 
above  paper-dolls  of  various  kinds  to  be 
coloured  by  the  children  as  a  further  exercise 
in  perfecting  the  technique  of  writing. 

Education  on  what  may  be  called  the 
lower  plane — that  is,  for  the  purpose  of 
developing  the  sensory  and  motor  sides  of 
the  nervous  system  as  the  instrument  of  con- 
sciousness— begins  for  the  very  young  child 
in  the  Montessori  school  when,  attracted, 
let  us  say,  by  the  sight  of  the  large  pink 
blocks  which  form  the  so-called  tower,  or 
one  of  the  frames  of  red  flannel  with  its 
row  of  white  buttons,  he  selects  one  of 
these  to  play  with.  If  it  is  the  tower  he 
will  need  no  help  at  first,  for  the  blocks  as 
he  uses  them  are  a  sufficient  guide  and  will 
[83] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

themselves  serve  as  a  corrective  for  his 
mistakes.  When  the  child,  after  playing  a 
while  with  the  pink  cubes  which  form  the 
tower,  sees  that  the  largest  block  should 
be  at  the  bottom,  the  training  of  his  power 
of  attention  has  begun;  and  as  he  handles 
the  blocks,  learning  gradually  to  place  them 
one  upon  another  in  proper  sequence,  his 
muscular  sense  already  awakened  now  be- 
gins to  develop.  Then  if  the  teacher  shows 
him  how  to  pass  his  hand  lightly  from  the 
bottom  to  the  top  of  the  stair  that  he  may 
gain  by  sense  of  touch  an  idea  of  its  succes- 
sive steps,  his  tactile  sense  is  trained  and, 
combined  with  the  visual,  calls  forth  his 
power  of  discrimination. 

The  child  is  now  ready  for  the  "Three 
Periods  of  Seguin,"  so  called,  which  Dr. 
Montessori  has  adapted  to  her  material, 
and  which  he  passes  through  as  he  learns 
its  use  and  receives  from  it  valuable  sensory 
and  motor  training. 

In  the  first  period  the  teacher,  let  us 
imagine,  takes  the  largest  block  of  the  tower 
with  which  the  child  has  been  playing 
and  says:  "This  is  the  largest  block,  the 
largest, "  which  word  the  child  will  prob- 
ably repeat  after  her.  Then,  taking  the  lit- 
[84] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

tie  cube  that  forms  the  apex,  she  will  show 
that  to  him  saying:  "This  is  the  smallest, 
the  smallest, "  until  that  word  also  is  re- 
peated by  the  child.  The  two  pieces  which 
are  in  strong  contrast  as  to  size  are  then 
shown  to  the  child  together,  the  teacher 
again  saying:  "This  is  the  largest — this  is 
the  smallest, "  the  child  repeating  the  words 
as  he  looks  at  the  blocks.  When  he  is  ready 
for  the  next  step  the  teacher  says:  "Give 
me  the  largest,"  or  "Give  me  the  smallest. " 
If  he  fails  to  respond  with  the  correct  action, 
the  teacher  either  leaves  him  for  a  little  or 
goes  back  again  to  the  first  period  in  obe- 
dience to  the  principle  that  there  must  be 
no  forcing  of  the  child's  attention,  and  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  he  has  shown  that  he  is 
not  ready  for  this  step.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  he  evinces  pleasure  in  giving  as  requested 
first  the  largest  and  then  the  smallest  block, 
giving  proof  that  he  has  learned  to  dis- 
criminate thus  far,  he  is  ready  for  the  third 
step.  This  is  the  most  difficult  for  the 
child  to  take  and  he  must  not  be  hurried 
or  coerced  into  it.  The  teacher  picks  up 
the  largest  block  and  asks:  "What  is  this?" 
If  the  child  is  ready  he  will  answer,  "The 
largest";  but  if  he  is  not  she  should  return  to 
[85] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

the  first  and  second  periods  again  until  he 
can  answer  readily  and  accurately.  I  have 
purposely  used  as  an  illustration  the  very 
simple  material  presented  to  the  youngest 
children;  but  the  same  order  is  followed 
with  all,  the  teacher  choosing  at  first  strong 
contrasts  and  gradually  giving  finer  grada- 
tions, leading  the  child  to  finer  and  finer 
discriminations. 

These  " three  periods,"  preceded  by  a  pe- 
riod of  spontaneous  use  of  the  material  for 
the  normal  child,  should  be  used  by  the 
teacher  in  presenting  any  of  the  material; 
but  they  must  not  follow  each  other  too 
quickly,  the  response  of  the  child  being  in 
every  case  the  cue  for  the  teacher.  Take 
as  another  example  the  solid  insets,  as  they 
are  called,  which,  ,with  the  frames  and  the 
pink  tower,  are  the  usual  choice  of  very 
little  children,  or  are  usually  selected  for 
them  by  the  teacher.  Here  again  the  ma- 
terial is  didactic  in  its  quality  of  automatic 
correction  of  error.  The  teacher  will  give 
a  child  one  of  the  sets  of  solid  insets — let 
us  suppose  that  one  in  which  all  of  the 
cylinders  are  of  the  same  diameter  but 
graded  as  to  height — first  taking  these  out 
and  placing  them  in  disorder  upon  the  table 
[86] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

or  upon  one  of  the  pieces  of  carpet  on  the 
floor.  The  child  with  his  instinctive  love 
of  putting  things  somewhere,  will  play  per- 
haps a  long  time  with  this  until  he  discov- 
ers that  each  piece  must  go  into  its  own 
hole.  Here  again  he  begins  with  his  visual 
sense,  but  the  teacher  soon  shows  him  how 
to  take  hold  of  each  piece  by  its  little  brass 
knob  with  one  hand,  while  passing  lightly 
the  fingers  of  the  other  around  its  surface. 
By  degrees  the  tactile  sense  reinforces  the 
visual  until  it  sometimes  takes  its  place,  and 
the  child  blindfolded  or  with  eyes  closed 
trusts  entirely  to  it,  repeating  the  exercise 
over  and  over  again,  thereby  illustrating 
the  principle  of  the  value  of  free  repetition 
as  training  in  discipline  and  obedience. 

The  three  periods  are  again  followed  in 
succession  as  the  material  is  given  first  in 
strong  contrasts  and  then  in  close  grada- 
tion until  the  child  learns  to  name  the 
largest,  the  smallest,  the  highest,  the  lowest, 
and  to  use  all  the  comparative  terms  which 
lie  between.  In  all  cases  the  principles  of 
non-correction  and  of  free  attention  are  ad- 
hered to.  The  child,  not  strained  in  an 
effort  to  pay  attention  or  to  obey  a  com- 
mand which  he  has  not  yet  the  ability  or 
[87] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

desire  to  execute,  or  to  remember  before 
he  has  received  a  strong  enough  impres- 
sion, will  play  without  fatigue  for  a  greater 
or  shorter  length  of  time  according  to  his 
temperament  and  mental  development,  un- 
til he  turns  of  his  own  accord  to  something 
else  or  responds  to  the  suggestion  for  some 
collective  instead  of  individual  game. 

Although  opportunity  is  always  found  in  a 
Montessori  school  for  free  play  with  blocks, 
toys  and  other  material  as  well  as  for  out- 
door games,  Dr.  Montessori' s  definition  of  a 
game  as  a  "  free  activity  ordered  to  a  defi- 
nite end"  and  her  belief  in  the  serious  at- 
titude of  children  to  what  we  call  their 
play,  causes  her  to  place  less  emphasis  on 
aimless  play  than  we  have  done.  She  in- 
culcates respect  for  and  care  of  the  material 
by  prohibiting  desultory  use  of  it.  The 
child  is  led  to  see  that  each  game  is  really  a 
problem  to  be  solved,  and  to  play  the  game 
in  such  a  way  as  to  find  the  correct  solution. 

Having  shown  by  these  two  examples  the 
method  used  in  presenting  the  different 
games,  let  us  now  pass  in  review  all  of  the 
material,  arranging  it  in  such  groups  as 
is  indicated  by  its  purpose.  We  must 
not,  however,  forget  that  while  sometimes 
[88] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

the  sensory  and  sometimes  the  motor  de- 
velopment of  the  child  is  the  primary  or  sec- 
ondary purpose  of  a  particular  game,  and 
while  at  one  time  his  senses  are  isolated  and 
at  another  fused,  there  can  be  no  such  for- 
mal separating  of  these  two  aims  as  has  been 
necessary  in  our  discussion  of  the  subject 
in  this  and  the  preceding  chapter. 

I  think  one  reason  why  there  is  some 
difficulty  in  understanding  Dr.  Montessori's 
system  of  education  from  merely  reading 
the  book  if  one  has  not  studied  it  at  first 
hand  in  her  schools  in  Rome,  is  because  she 
follows  one  order  of  presentation  in  the  early 
part  of  the  book  (in  her  chapter  on  Sense 
Training)  and  another  in  a  later  chapter 
where  she  gives  the  sequence  that  experience 
has  proved  best.  I  shall,  instead,  group  the 
games  as  I  saw  them  used  most  frequently 
in  the  best  schools  in  Rome.  Such  an 
arrangement,  however,  is  in  no  sense  arbi- 
trary, and  I  believe  that  our  experiences 
with  American  children  may  cause  us  to 
make  changes.  Our  children  have  so  much 
initiative  and  such  ability  to  find  a  practical 
use  for  the  games  that  such  modifications 
as  will  fit  these  traits  will  be  necessary. 
In  the  class  I  had  last  summer,  I  made 
[89] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

little  use  of  the  boards  with  strips  of  sand- 
paper for  the  rough  and  smooth  exercise, 
as  I  found  the  same  training  in  discrimi- 
nation could  be  gained  by  the  children 
more  naturally  and  en  joy  ably  with  other 
games. 

The  first  group  of  exercises  chosen  by 
very  young  children  is  usually  that  of  the 
eight  frames  for  buttoning,  lacing,  hooking, 
tying  of  bow-knots,  and  so  on,  which  are 
called  " Exercises  in  Practical  Life"  because 
they  help  the  child  to  become  independent 
as  he  learns  to  dress  and  undress  himself 
As  he  plays  with  the  various  frames  and 
learns  how  to  button,  lace,  hook  and  tie 
bow-knots,  his  muscles  become  co-ordinated, 
and  his  sense  of  touch  is  refined.  So  these 
exercises  are  valuable,  not  only  for  motor 
education,  as  we  saw  in  Chapter  V,  but  for 
refining  the  tactile  sense,  which,  combined 
with  the  visual,  is  so  important  in  the 
child's  development.  With  these  exercises 
in  practical  life  belong  drill  in  habits  of 
cleanliness,  and  therefore  the  child  is  shown 
how  to  wash  his  hands  and  face  with  warm 
water  and  soap.  He  quickly  learns  to  love 
the  delicacy  of  touch  gained  in  this  way, 
and  to  realise  the  sensitiveness  of  the  fleshy 
[90] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

part  of  the  finger-tips,  where  the  sense  of 
touch  is  chiefly  located.  This  is  a  good  time 
for  him  to  choose  the  boxes  of  fabrics,  by 
means  of  which  he  will  quickly  recognise 
differences  between  the  feeling  of  silks, 
whether  heavy  or  light;  linen  and  cotton, 
both  heavy  and  fine;  velvet,  woolen  and 
leather.  In  one  school  I  visited,  the  chil- 
dren showed  a  wonderful  exactness  in  recog- 
nising these  fabrics  while  blindfolded,  and 
in  matching  with  their  eyes  open  different 
materials  of  the  same  shade,  such  as  velvet 
or  silk.  The  Directress  of  this  school  told 
me  that  many  of  the  little  girls  now  in  her 
school  would,  when  they  grew  up,  become 
milliners  or  dressmakers;  so  this  particular 
sense-training  had  its  vocational  features. 
These  same  little  children  were  already 
helping  their  mothers  to  shop  by  guiding 
them  in  their  choice  of  fabrics  and  colours. 
The  transition  from  training  the  tactile 
sense  by  means  of  these  fabrics  to  educating 
the  chromatic  or  colour  sense  is  made  with 
the  two  boxes  of  coloured  silks  wound  on 
little  reels,  which  attract  all  the  children 
greatly.  This  game  appeals  to  many  child- 
ish instincts:  the  love  of  colour,  of  putting 
things  in  place,  of  invention,  and  by  means 
[91] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  it  the  finest  discriminations  of  shade  and 
colour  are  gained.  Following  the  general 
rules  of  strong  contrasts  and  of  simplicity, 
only  two  colours,  red  and  blue,  for  instance, 
are  given  to  a  child  at  first.  Using  two  sets 
of  each  colour  he  matches  one  with  another 
and  gradually,  as  he  plays  with  the  eight 
shades  of  each  colour,  learns  to  place  them 
correctly  in  gradation  from  the  darkest  to 
the  lightest.  After  this  preliminary  play, 
he  is  ready  for  the  first  of  the  three  periods, 
when  the  teacher  will  tell  him  simply  the 
names  of  the  colours,  which  are  the  darkest 
shade,  the  lightest,  and  so  on.  Many  times 
while  watching  the  children  play  with  these 
reels  of  colour,  I  was  corrected  by  little  chil- 
dren of  four  or  five  years  of  age,  whose 
ability  to  distinguish  infinitesimal  differ- 
ences of  shades  was  marvellous.  In  this 
game  the  memory  is  also  strengthened  as 
the  child,  while  putting  away  the  reels,  each 
in  the  proper  compartmemVof  its  box  and  in 
the  true  sequence  of  shade,  remembers  the 
right  color  as  he  takes  it  from  the  table  or 
floor  to  the  box.  The  habit  of  orderliness 
formed  through  this  training  in  putting 
away  each  game  in  its  proper  position  on 
the  shelves,  is  one  of  the  ways  by  which 
[92] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

the  Montessori  ideal  of  discipline  is  obtained. 
The  training  of  the  chromatic  sense  by 
means  of  the  fabrics  and  reels  of  silk,  may 
be  indefinitely  extended  as  the  child's  own 
power  of  observation  increases  and  he 
begins  to  notice  the  different  materials  and 
colours  by  which  he  is  surrounded  at  home 
and  in  school.  But  we  must  heed  the  warn- 
ing not  to  furnish  the  child  with  informa- 
tion and  not  to  force  his  powers  of  obser- 
vation or  of  generalisation.  When  these 
powers  come  naturally  to  the  child  they  are 
his  own  possession,  and  make  a  much 
stronger  impression.  I  saw  an  illustration 
of  this  point  last  winter,  when,  watching  a 
little  child  making  a  picture  of  a  tree  with 
his  coloured  pencils,  I  saw  his  growth  in 
self-directed  power  of  observation.  The 
first  day  he  drew  a  tree  very  crudely,  using 
only  the  red  pencil,  but  was  not  corrected 
by  the  teacher.  A  day  or  two  later  he  used 
the  green  pencil  for  the  leaves,  and  still 
later,  discarded  the  red  entirely  and  used 
brown  for  the  trunk  and  branches.  This 
also  illustrated  the  Herbartian  idea  of 
growth  in  apperception. 

The  chromatic  sense  is  also  developed  by 
the  practice  in  drawing  and  filling  in  of 
[93] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

geometric  designs  with  coloured  pencils,  which 
I  shall  describe  later  in  its  relation  to  wri- 
ting. Here  the  primary  aim  is  to  perfect 
the  technique  of  writing,  but  the  secondary 
aim,  to  refine  the  colour  sense,  is  also  aided. 
The  child's  first  choice  of  colour  is  often 
crude  and  harsh,  but  the  change  to  choice 
of  harmonious  and  soft  shades  is  most 
interesting.  All  these  drawings  are  marked 
with  the  pupil's  name  and  kept  by  the 
teacher,  and  afford  good  opportunity  for 
testing  his  progress.  I  looked  over  dozens 
of  such  papers  and  saw  the  early  attempts 
of  children  who  were  by  this  time  making 
beautiful  and  very  delicate  combinations 
of  colour  on  their  designs. 

The  thermic  sense  can,  I  believe,  be 
developed  more  accurately  by  the  use  of 
little  bags  of  sand  heated  to  varying  degrees 
of  temperature  than  by  the  bottles  of 
water  heated  to  various  degrees,  or  by  the 
use  of  cold,  tepid  or  hot  water.  The 
Directress  in  Rome  who  suggested  the  use 
of  these  bags  of  sand,  gave  as  a  reason  for 
preferring  them,  the  fear  of  confusion  in 
sense-training  that  would  arise  from  using 
the  water. 

The  development  of  the  baric  sense,  or 
[94] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

that  of  weight,  is  gained  by  the  use  of  sets 
of  wooden  tablets  all  of  the  same  shape  and 
size.  They  are  made,  however,  of  three 
kinds  of  wood:  wisteria,  walnut  and  pine, 
which  differ  slightly  in  weight.  This  is  an- 
other game  the  children  delight  to  play 
blindfolded,  and  they  show  marvellous  dex- 
terity in  detecting  immediately  the  slight 
degrees  of  difference  in  weight  in  the  various 
kinds.  A  child  will  stand  or  sit  with  these 
little  tablets  mixed  together  in  front  of  him, 
and  rapidly  weighing  each  piece  in  his  tiny 
hand,  place  it  without  a  mistake  in  its 
proper  pile. 

The  cubes  and  bricks  of  Froebel  are  used 
in  much  the  same  way  to  develop  the  stere- 
ognostic  sense  of  feeling,  which  is  a  fusion 
of  the  tactile  and  muscular  senses.  The 
purpose  of  the  education  of  this  sense  is  to 
lead  to  the  recognition  of  objects  through 
feeling  them,  and  all  the  material  helps 
develop  it  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  espe- 
cially when  the  sense  is  isolated.  It  is  also 
helpful  in  leading  to  a  rapidity  of  judgment 
through  comparison  of  various  objects,  such 
as  coins,  different  grains — rice,  wheat,  or 
millet — and  other  small  objects. 

I  found  the  sense  of  hearing  exercised  by 
[95] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

means  of  the  game  of  "silence"  and  by  use  of 
boxes  containing  sand,  gravel,  pebbles  and 
stones,  which  make  a  gradation  of  sounds. 
For  the  training  in  musical  tones,  the  piano 
is  used;  also  a  series  of  bells  graded  to  the 
scale,  and  other  musical  instruments. 

The  senses  of  taste  and  smell  are  so  often 
fused,  and  the  olfactory  sense  develops  so 
late  that  the  training  in  these  senses  has  not 
been  very  satisfactory.  One  Directress  I 
talked  with,  however,  feels  strongly  the 
necessity  for  educating  more  accurately 
both  senses  of  taste  and  smell  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  useful  lives.  She  had  experimented 
for  developing  the  sense  of  taste  with  salt, 
sugar,  vinegar  and  quinine,  beginning  with 
a  strong  solution  of  each  and  diminishing 
it  to  a  very  weak  one,  and  for  that  of  smell 
with  the  odours  of  different  flowers.  She 
believed  we  should  train  for  a  union  rather 
than  a  fusion  of  these  senses.  For  example, 
she  thought  it  possible  to  smell  salt  as  well 
as  taste  it. 

I  have  left  for  final  discussion  a  de- 
scription of  the  exercises  for  sharpening 
the  sense  of  vision,  and  for  the  training  of 
that  sense  combined  with  the  tactile  and 
muscular  senses,  because  of  their  impor- 
[96] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

tanceinthe  intellectual  or  higher  education 
of  the  child.  As  I  have  previously  stated, 
the  child  at  the  age  of  three  has  had  his 
sense  of  vision  more  highly  developed  than 
his  other  senses.  What  he  now  needs  is 
practice  in  recognition  of  differences  in 
dimensions.  For  this  purpose  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori  has  devised  some  very  important 
material,  which  she  calls  the  Solid  Insets, 
the  Tower,  the  Big  Stair,  and  the  Long 
Stair.  The  Solid  Insets  are  three  in  num- 
ber, each  containing  ten  wooden  cylinders, 
varying  in  height,  or  in  diameter,  or  in  both. 
The  child  plays  with  these  by  himself  at 
first,  as  in  the  other  games,  and  then  learns 
with  the  teacher's  help  the  different  dimen- 
sions and  their  proper  nomenclature:  high- 
est, lowest;  thickest,  thinnest;  largest,  small- 
est; and  all  the  intermediate  grades  and 
terms.  There  is  an  opportunity  for  group 
work  here  as  three  children  often  play  with 
these  cylinders  together.  The  sense  of 
touch  is  also  perfected  by  means  of  these 
insets,  as  the  child  passes  his  fingers  first 
around  the  cylinder,  then  around  the  cor- 
responding hole. 

The  three  large  sets  of  blocks  just  alluded 
to,  called  the  Tower,  the  Big  Stair  and  the 
[97] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

Long  Stair,  appeal  to  children  and  give  op- 
portunity for  this  visual  training  in  dimen- 
sions, and  for  the  education  of  the  tactile 
and  muscular  senses.  The  didactic  nature 
of  this  part  of  the  material  is  not  so  great 
and  the  control  is  not  so  sure  as  with  the 
solid  insets.  But  in  these  games  the  eye 
easily  recognises  a  mistake,  and  the  teacher 
assists  the  child  to  detect  errors  by  showing 
him  how  to  pass  his  hand  lightly  up  and 
down  the  steps  of  the  Tower  and  Big  Stair, 
or  along  the  sides  of  the  Long  Stair.  The 
Long  Stair  proves  its  value  later,  when, 
chiefly  by  its  help,  the  child  learns  to  count 
and  begins  the  study  of  the  metric  and  deci- 
mal systems. 

All  of  these  games  help  to  discipline  the 
attention  and  the  memory  as  the  child 
carries  the  material  to  or  from  the  shelves 
to  table  or  floor  and  remembers  the  order 
in  which  it  should  be  placed  and  later  put 
away.  They  also  afford  a  useful  gymnastic 
exercise  in  poise  as  the  child  learns  to  carry, 
for  instance,  the  tower,  without  dropping 
even  the  smallest  piece. 

The  thirty- two  geometric  insets  of  wood 
fitted  into  little  wooden  squares  and  ar- 
ranged in  six  drawers  in  a  wooden  case,  are 
[98] 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

perhaps  the  most  popular  of  any  of  the 
material  with  all  but  the  youngest  children, 
and  the  most  useful  in  their  variety  of 
application.  In  the  preliminary  stages,  the 
child  is  given  a  tray  with  several  of  these 
squares  into  which  he  learns  gradually  to 
place  the  proper  inset.  Here,  again,  the 
material  controls  the  error,  as  only  the 
right  piece  will  fit  into  the  right  square. 
The  child's  sense  of  touch  is  developed  as 
he  takes  each  inset  by  its  little  button,  and 
passes  his  finger  lightly  around  it  and  then 
around  the  corresponding  opening  in  the 
wooden  square.  At  first  contrasting  forms, 
such  as  the  square,  the  circle  and  the  tri- 
angle, are  placed  on  one  tray,  later  analo- 
gous forms,  such  as  the  oval  and  ellipse, 
or  rectangles  of  various  kinds  are  given. 
The  three  periods  are  then  followed  as  in 
other  cases  until  the  child  learns  recognition 
of  the  form,  can  select  it,  and  finally  name 
it.  But  usually  only  a  few  of  the  more 
simple  names  are  taught,  unless  the  child 
shows  a  desire  to  learn  them  all.  I  watched 
one  day,  a  little  boy  of  five  who  fitted  into 
their  places  and  named  quickly  and  accu- 
rately most  of  the  forms.  It  is  very  impor- 
tant to  remember  that  these  insets  are  not 
[99] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

for  the  purpose  of  geometric  analysis  of 
form  which  is  to  be  carefully  avoided  by 
the  teacher,  but  for  recognition  of  form 
through  the  association  of  the  visual  with 
the  muscular  and  tactile  senses.  In  this 
way  a  muscular  memory  is  acquired  which 
will  later  be  of  the  greatest  importance  as 
the  child  learns  to  write.  With  these  geo- 
metric insets  are  used  the  three  series  of 
cards  which  have  the  same  forms  in  solid 
colour,  and  in  heavy  and  light  line.  The 
child  takes  first  a  group  of  the  wooden  forms, 
and  with  them  the  cards  with  the  same  figure 
in  solid  blue.  His  eye  guides  him  to  place 
the  wooden  figure  upon  the  corresponding 
card,  and  his  habit  of  touching  is  by  this 
time  so  well  established  that  he  will  follow 
the  contour  with  his  finger.  He  is  then 
given  the  cards  that  have  these  same  forms 
in  heavy  blue  outline,  and  lastly  those 
which  have  the  form  outlined  in  black. 
He  now  places  the  wooden  geometric  insets 
in  a  row  and  underneath  each/the  three 
cards;  first  the  solid  blue,  then  the  heavy 
blue  outline  which  represents  the  path  his 
finger  makes  in  touching  the  contour  of 
each  form,  and  finally  the  thin  black  out- 
line, which  is  similar  to  the  line  his  pencil, 
[1001 


SENSORY  EDUCATION 

or  chalk,  or  pen  will  make  in  design  and  in 
writing. 

With  this  series  of  cards  he  is  passing 
from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract;  from 
the  solid  wooden  form  to  the  line  which 
represents  it  on  the  paper.  He  is  thus 
prepared  for  the  art  of  writing,  when  he 
will  use  abstract  symbols  which  he  has 
learned  through  the  use  of  the  sandpaper 
and  script  alphabets. 

It  will  be  better,  perhaps,  to  leave  for 
another  chapter  any  explanation  of  the  use 
of  the  material  in  its  further  purpose  to 
assist  the  development  of  the  higher  or 
conscious  life  of  the  child;  yet  we  must 
never  forget  either  the  unity  and  continuity 
of  the  method  or  the  unity  and  continuity 
of  the  developing  mind.  We  talk  of  motor, 
of  sensory,  of  ideo-education  in  the  same 
way  that  we  talk  of  the  different  powers 
of  consciousness — of  sensation,  perception, 
feeling,  thinking,  willing — because  our  point 
of  view  changes  from  one  to  another  as  our 
emphasis  varies.  In  reality,  however,  there 
can  be  no  such  distinct  or  arbitrary  division 
either  in  education  or  in  the  mental  life  of 
the  human  being  who  is  the  object  of  that 
education.  In  this  and  the  previous  chap- 
[101] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

ters  we  have  had  in  mind  chiefly  sensory 
and  motor  education  in  its  biological  aspect 
as  a  means  of  increasing  the  power  and 
efficiency  of  the  nervous  system;  in  the 
coming  chapter  we  shall  place  the  empha- 
sis on  that  higher  form  of  education  which 
prepares  the  child  as  a  social  being  for  his 
environment,  and  for  intercourse  with  his 
fellows. 


102 


CHAPTER  VII 

FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

"The  greatest  triumph  of  our  education  should  be  to 
bring  about  the  spontaneous  progress  of  the  child." 

IF  education  concerned  itself  only  or 
chiefly  with  its  lower  function,  that  of 
perfecting  the  sensory  life  of  the  child,  it 
would  not  rise  above  the  level  of  the  train- 
ing which  is  often  given  to  animals;  and  its 
subject,  the  child,  would  not  advance  far 
beyond  an  animal's  degree  of  intelligence. 
Many  animals  have  certain  senses  even 
more  keenly  developed  than  those  of  any 
human  being,  and  possess  senses — as  that  of 
direction — that  we  lack;  and  we  all  know 
that  races  uneducated  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word  may  have  a  high  degree  of  sense 
education.  If  too  great  reliance  is  placed 
on  sense  training  as  an  end  in  itself  rather 
than  as  a  means,  or  if  its  purpose  to  in- 
crease the  higher  powers  of  the  mind  is 
forgotten,  just  as  great  an  injustice  is  done 
as  in  the  days  prior  to  Pestalozzi,  when  sense 
or  motor  training  was  neglected  for  what 
[103] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

was  considered  purely  intellectual  educa- 
tion. No  system  of  education,  however,  can 
be  made  on  the  compartment  plan;  and  as 
we  have  already  noticed  the  fusion  of  the 
motor  and  sensory  training  in  the  early 
use  of  the  didactic  material,  so  we  must 
keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  child's  train- 
ing in  sense  perception  begins  as  soon  as  his 
consciousness  is  sufficiently  developed  for 
him  to  have  knowledge  of  things  rather  than 
of  qualities. 

Professor  James  in  a  characteristically 
apt  expression  calls  the  earliest  state  of  the 
baby's  mind  "one  big  booming  buzz  of 
confusion."  It  has  a  feeling  of  warmth  as 
it  cuddles  close  to  its  mother's  side,  of 
satisfaction  as  it  is  nourished  at  her  breast, 
of  hunger  or  of  pain  if  it  is  neglected; 
but  all  is  at  first  most  indefinite.  Later,  as 
memory  develops,  constant  repetition  of 
sense  impressions  as  they  are  remembered 
build  up  perceptions  of  things  so  that  it 
is  almost  impossible  for  us  in  later  life  to 
have  a  pure  sensation.  Years  ago,  after 
three  days  of  uninterrupted  travel  across 
our  continent,  I  left  the  train  in  the  light 
of  a  western  sunrise  and  was  driven  ten 
miles  across  the  limitless  rolling  prairie  to 
[104] 


FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

a  frontier  army  post.  I  still  remember  most 
vividly  the  pure  sensations  I  had  that  morn- 
ing of  light,  of  colour,  of  vast  space;  but 
though  I  have  since  visited  the  same  place 
more  than  once,  I  can  never  catch  that 
first  "fine  careless  rapture/'  for  memory 
plays  its  part,  and  I  perceive  rather  than 
feel.  The  baby's  states  of  consciousness 
on  the  contrary  are  composed  of  pure  sen- 
sations and  it  is  only  through  this  door 
of  sense  that  the  child  gains  access  to  the 
higher  state  of  perception.  So,  although  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  child's  education  the 
training  of  the  senses  is  of  prime  importance, 
and  the  greatest  emphasis  is  placed  on  the 
use  of  the  Montessori  material  for  that  pur- 
pose, the  teacher  must  always  keep  before 
her  the  next  step,  which  is  to  lead  the  child 
from  sensations  to  ideas,  from  the  concrete 
to  the  abstract,  and  on  to  association  and 
generalisation. 

Just  as  she  has  often  isolated  the  senses 
in  order  that  the  child's  attention  might 
be  given  to  a  single  sense  impression,  so 
now  she  must  isolate  his  attention  in  order 
that  he  may  get  definite  perceptions  by 
limiting  his  field  of  consciousness.  If  we 
analyse  our  states  of  consciousness  we  find 
[105] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

in  them  a  definite  sharp  point  called  the 
focus  of  our  attention  which  is  centered  on 
the  thing  to  which  we  are  at  the  moment 
attending,  and  the  margin  of  varying  degrees 
of  clearness  where  many  sensations  may  be 
received  or  automatic  habitual  actions  set  in 
motion  which  we  may  not  at  the  moment  be 
aware  of.  It  should  be  the  aim  of  education 
so  to  train  attention  that  the  child  will  get 
clear,  sharp  impressions  which  later  he  will 
be  able  to  recall  and  associate  with  others. 
The  auto-education  of  the  child  is  inter- 
rupted by  the  teacher  only  that  she  may 
aid  this  clearness  of  impression,  and  her  art, 
as  we  shall  indicate  more  fully  later,  lies 
in  the  amount  and  purpose  of  that  inter- 
vention which  her  careful  study  of  the  indi- 
vidual child  shows  him  especially  to  need. 
Her  greatest  assistance  will  at  first  lie  in 
the  direction  of  providing  him  with  a  proper 
vocabulary  introduced  by  means  of  the 
three  periods.  The  child's  native,  instinc- 
tive curiosity  is  satisfied  when  he  is  given 
simply  and  clearly  the  name  of  the  special 
object  that  is  the  subject  of  his  attention, 
and  through  this  association  of  name  with 
object  and  from  the  muscular  or  visual 
memory  gained  as  he  handles  or  looks  at 
[106] 


FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

it  his  perception  is  made  more  sharp.  By 
degrees  she  will  use  instead  of  the  con- 
crete name  of  the  specific  object  or  of  its 
quality,  as  warm,  long,  broad,  the  abstract 
terms  warmth,  length,  or  breadth.  The 
second  step  tests  the  child's  power  of  atten- 
tion as  well  as  of  perception  as  she  asks 
" Which  is  red?"  (or  " smooth"  or  "cold") 
and  the  third  provokes  the  motor  response 
when  she  asks  "What  is  this?"  and  is  an- 
swered "Red"  (or  "smooth"  or  "cold"). 

The  power  of  observation  and  ability  to 
combine  various  perceptions  which  lead  to 
association  and  generalisation  of  ideas  vary 
greatly  with  the  individual  and  must  not  be 
forced.  Proper  sense  training  should  lead 
to  observation,  which  may  be  stimulated 
in  the  way  noted  above,  but  it  is  better  to 
leave  the  child  free  to  make  his  own  obser- 
vations than  to  give  him  information  which 
may  satisfy  him  for  the  moment  but  limit 
his  self-development.  It  is  better,  for  ex- 
ample, to  educate  the  chromatic  sense  than 
to  give  a  definite  lesson  on  colour.  It  is 
better  to  give  the  child  abundant  exercises 
in  design  and  gradually  develop  his  power 
of  observation  as  well  as  his  colour  sense 
than  to  tell  him  just  what  to  draw.  Our 
[107] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

aim,  as  Dr.  Montessori  notes,  is  to  aid  the 
spontaneous  development  of  the  child's 
whole  personality  rather  than  to  give  him 
information.  Temperamental  differences  in 
the  children  call  for  varieties  of  such  aid; 
the  principle  to  be  constantly  enforced  is 
to  give  as  little  aid  as  possible. 

The  same  material  is  used  as  the  child 
passes  from  sensory  training  to  training  in 
perception;  the  only  difference  lies  in  the 
point  of  view,  the  emphasis,  and  in  the 
method  for  developing  the  attention  and 
power  of  association  through  relating  the 
child  to  his  environment.  Much  of  this  par- 
ticular training  is  done  with  groups  of  chil- 
dren who  use  collectively  the  boxes  of  fabrics, 
of  colour,  of  geometric  insets,  or  the  various 
stairs.  Often  one  of  the  children  asks  to 
be  blindfolded  and  will  then  take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  fabrics,  and  as  he  passes  rapidly 
over  them,  touching  them  lightly  with  the 
tips  of  his  fingers  will  call  out:  " Heavy 
silk"  —  " Light  silk"  —  " Coarse  woolen "- 
"Fine  cotton";  the  other  children  watching 
meanwhile  with  eager  interest.  Sometimes 
the  teacher  or  one  of  the  children  will  slyly 
add  to  the  collection  some  other  article  to 
see  if  he  can  tell  what  it  is.  At  another 
[108] 


FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

time  a  child,  also  blindfolded,  will  stand 
at  a  table  with  the  wooden  tablets  which 
have  already  been  used  to  develop  his  baric 
sense,  and  taking  two  at  a  time,  one  in 
each  hand,  will  place  all  the  heavy  tablets 
in  one  pile  at  his  right  and  the  lighter  in 
another  at  his  left.  The  articles  used  to 
perfect  the  stereognostic  sense,  such  as  coins, 
seeds,  and  so  on,  are  also  great  favourites 
with  the  children,  who  gain  by  means  of 
their  use  wonderful  power  of  discrimina- 
tion. I  have  dwelt  on  the  importance  of 
tactile  and  stereognostic  sense  training  and 
have  already  alluded  to  the  hand  as  a  factor 
in  human  evolution,  but  its  higher  value 
in  our  perceptual  life  must  be  brought 
out.  As  Professor  MacDougall  shows  in  his 
monograph,1  the  hand  is  the  servant  of 
the  brain  without  whose  wonderful  help  in 
interpreting  the  world  of  space  in  which  we 
live,  help  given  also  by  the  senses  of  sight 
and  hearing,  we  could  have  no  real  percep- 
tion of  the  world.  The  hand  of  the  sur- 
geon or  the  artist  has  a  perceptive  quality 
which  we  all  recognise  and  which  should 

1  The  Significance  of  the  Human  Hand  in  the  Evolu- 
tion of  Mind,  by  Robert  MacDougall,  Am.  Journal  of 
Psychology,  April,  1905,  Vol.  XVI,  pp.  232-242. 

[109] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

serve  as  an  ideal  for  emulation  in  educa- 
tion. When  I  saw  the  children  in  Rome 
playing  in  the  way  I  have  just  described, 
I  felt  as  if  they  could  see  with  their  hands. 
Those  exercises  which  are  used  for  inten- 
sifying the  sense  of  vision  may  be  used  in  a 
similar  way  for  practice  in  an  exact  use  of 
language  and  for  gaining  clear  ideas  as  to 
dimensions,  for  which  purpose  the  Solid 
Insets,  the  Tower  and  the  Big  and  Long 
Stair  are  all  helpful.  The  application  of 
these  ideas  to  the  child's  environment  may 
be  made  very  easily  as  he  compares  his  own 
height  with  that  of  other  children;  notes 
the  differences  in  size  and  shape  of  the 
various  pieces  of  furniture;  and  if,  in  his 
care  of  the  room,  especially  if  lunch  is 
served,  he  is  taught  to  use  with  accuracy 
many  terms  such  as  corners,  edges,  top, 
bottom,  sides,  square  and  so  on.  The 
great  diversity  of  forms  in  the  box  of  geo- 
metric insets  appeals  more  or  less  to  differ- 
ent children  as  their  sense  of  form  or  of 
colour  is  stronger.  I  was  interested  last 
summer  in  noticing  individual  peculiar- 
ities and  predilections;  one  child  would 
be  attracted  by  a  variety  of  analogous 
forms,  the  names  of  which  he  would  be 
[HO] 


FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

eager  to  learn;  another  would  pass  by  all 
but  a  few  strongly  contrasted  ones,  such 
as  a  square,  circle,  or  triangle.  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori  believes  that  it  is  better  to  give 
these  forms  to  the  child  in  the  plane  at  first 
for  visual  perception,  as  they  are  less  com- 
plex and  also  most  frequently  met  with 
in  his  surroundings;  while  the  solid  forms 
are  presented  to  him  later  for  training  his 
manual  perception. 

Much  of  the  child's  time  in  a  Montessori 
school  is  given  up  to  design,  either  free  or 
in  forms  outlined  by  the  teacher.  The 
free  design  allows  the  child  opportunity  to 
express  and  to  create  as  he  chooses  and  is 
of  great  value  to  the  teacher  as  a  guide  to 
the  child's  period  of  development  and  to 
his  native  interests  and  capacity.  All  the 
drawings  are  preserved,  with  the  date,  the 
child's  name,  and  what  he  tried  to  picture, 
noted  on  each.  A  remarkable  gain  in  intel- 
ligence and  keen  perception  is  often  shown 
by  these  sets  of  papers. 

Dr.  Montessori  agrees  with  all  kinder- 
garten teachers  in  the  value  she  places  upon 
free  work  in  clay  as  well  as  with  pencil  or 
crayon,  not  only  for  the  child  as  it  serves 
to  increase  his  power  of  observation  and  aids 
[111] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

his  muscular  co-ordination  and  self-repres- 
sion, but  also  as  a  help  to  the  teacher  in  the 
revelation  of  his  personality.  So  by  means 
of  a  great  number  of  games  spontaneously 
chosen  by  the  child,  who  is  aided  as  little  as 
possible  by  the  teacher,  he  is  led  from  sense 
training  to  perception  and  through  observa- 
tion of  his  surroundings  to  generalisation. 
This  is  a  direct  preparation  for  the  highest 
process  of  all,  that  of  conception  or  thinking 
proper. 

Just  as  perception  is  the  result  of  the 
remembrance  of  many  combined  sensa- 
tions, so  conception  is  generalisation  from 
the  experiences  of  many  perceptions.  A 
child  has  a  number  of  different  sensations, 
either  separate  or  combined,  of  colour,  form, 
and  so  forth,  before  he  can  have  the  per- 
ception of  a  horse  or  a  dog,  but  he  must 
have  many  opportunities  to  perceive  horses 
or  dogs  before  he  will  reach  the  concept, 
horse  or  dog — which  is  a  generalisation. 
Such  concepts  he  must  have  in  order  to 
reason,  for  reasoning  is  based  on  comparison 
of  concepts  from  which  by  means  of  anal- 
ysis and  selection  one  comes  to  form  various 
judgments  about  them.  Without  language 
which  gives  the  symbols  for  concepts  we 
[112] 


FROM  SENSATIONS  TO  IDEAS 

could  have  no  rational  expression  of  thought 
and  therefore  command  of  language,  both 
written  and  spoken,  must  be  the  goal  to  be 
attained  by  the  child.  The  next  chapter 
will  discuss  Dr.  Montessori's  principles  and 
methods  of  teaching  reading,  writing  and 
arithmetic,  three  most  important  elements 
in  the  higher  life  of  consciousness. 


[113] 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

"A  great  deal  of  time  and  intellectual  force  are  lost  in 
this  world  because  the  false  seems  great  and  the  truth 
so  small." 

No  part  of  Dr.  Montessori's  book,  no 
report  of  visitors  to  Rome,  has  called  out 
so  much  interested  discussion  as  the  accounts 
of  her  method  of  teaching  writing,  num- 
ber, and  reading — to  name  these  subjects  in 
the  order  in  which  they  usually  appeal  to  a 
child  in  the  Montessori  schools.  Here  is 
something  tangible,  concrete;  here  results 
are  definite;  here  a  clear-cut  comparison 
may  be  made  with  other  systems.  The 
" Founder"  of  this  method  deprecates  the 
undue  emphasis  which  is  often  given  to 
this  phase  of  it.  She  fears  that  it  may  be 
wrested  from  its  place  in  the  system,  the 
unity  of  which  will  thereby  be  destroyed. 
It  is  necessary  for  us,  however,  to  make  a 
careful  study  not  only  of  the  method  by 
which  the  child  gains  power  to  unlock  the 
triple  gate  of  knowledge,  but  of  the  psy- 

[114] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

chological  principles  on  which  the  method 
is  based  and  by  which  it  is  justified. 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the 
fundamental  relation  between  our  nervous 
system  and  our  mental  life  (which  may  be 
expressed  most  simply  in  the  diagram  of 
an  arc,  thus: 


A,  in-coming  sensory  current;  B,  out- 
going motor  current)  and  to  the  fact  that 
sensation  always  results  in  action,  even 
when  the  action  is  inhibited  before  being 
expressed  outwardly.  The  earliest  life  of  a 
child  consists,  as  was  stated  in  Chapter  VI, 
of  very  simple  reflexes  in  which  the  spinal 
cord  only  is  involved,  the  origin  and  control 
of  these  acts  emanating  therefrom.  Next 
the  cerebellum  or  lower  brain  receives  a 
sensory  stimulus  and  sends  out  a  motor 
current  to  the  large  muscles.  Not  long 
after  birth  the  higher  brain  or  cerebrum 
begins  to  receive,  in  its  visual,  auditory, 
gustatory  or  olfactory  centers,  currents 
which  pass  along  the  nerves,  connecting  it 
with  the  organs  of  sight,  hearing,  taste,  and 
[115] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

smell.  Still  later  the  rich  sensory  life  reg- 
istered in  the  brain  sets  up  associations, 
and  our  first  simple  arc  diagram  must  be 
modified  to  suggest  the  complicated  reac- 
tion of  stimuli:  in-coming  nerve  currents  to 
sensory  centers,  currents  between  centers, 
then  out-going  nerve  currents  to  muscles. 
Now  if  we  bear  in  mind  the  special  quality 
of  the  nervous  system,  plasticity,  and  re- 
member that  every  in-coming  and  connect- 
ing current  makes  an  impression  and  that 
these  impressions  are  stored  up  in  the  brain 
as  memories,  we  shall  realise  the  effect  of 
the  combination  of  impressions  from  the 
different  sense  organs  that  reinforce  and 
supplement  each  other  in  the  brain  cen- 
ters, and  we  shall  then  comprehend  the 
principle  of  multiple  stimuli. 

In  the  process  of  learning  to  write  a  word 
as  carried  out  in  Montessori  schools,  the 
child  sees  the  word,  hears  the  sounds  which 
compose  it,  touches  the  sandpaper  letters 
which  form  its  symbols  and  by  the  mutual 
reinforcement  of  all  these  stimuli,  his  mental 
image  both  sensory  and  motor  is  clarified, 
so  that  when  he  feels  the  impulse  to  write 
the  word,  he  needs  no  copy.  In-coming 
nerve  currents  carry  the  effect  of  a  stimu- 
[116] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

lus  from  all  of  these  sense  organs  to  the 
brain  centers,  and  out-going  ones  set  up  the 
motor  response  of  the  spoken  or  written 
word.  Such  an  interweaving  of  stimuli 
establishes  paths  of  association  so  that  a 
stimulus  from  one  sense  organ,  vision,  will 
excite  the  nerve  centers  of  hearing  or  touch 
as  well.  With  this  psychological  frame- 
work as  a  starting-point,  let  us  now  trace 
the  actual  steps  in  the  child's  advance  to- 
wards intellectual  life. 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  followed  the 
child's  progression  from  sensations  to  ideas, 
from  concrete  ideas  to  abstract  generalisa- 
tion, from  perception  to  observation.  This 
progress  in  the  child's  inner  mental  life  is 
so  gradual,  so  natural  and  unforced  that 
it  is  like  any  growth  in  nature,  difficult  to 
follow  step  by  step.  The  spring  comes— 
the  sap  rises  in  the  trees,  the  branches  that 
have  been  bare  are  bright  with  the  tender 
green  of  young  foliage — but  who  has  marked 
the  change  from  one  day  to  another? 
"Blue  ran  the  flash  across — violets  are 
born."  So  the  awakening  of  the  higher  con- 
scious life  comes  without  observation,  and 
no  one  can  name  the  day  or  hour  of  its  ap- 
pearance or  the  exact  stages  of  its  growth. 
[117] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

There  is  no  arbitrary  separation  of  the 
factors  in  the  child's  growth  nor  is  he  aware 
of  any  differing  point  of  view.  The  ma- 
terial, as  it  has  excited  his  curiosity,  in- 
terest or  attention  and  stimulated  his  ac- 
tivities, has  been  used  in  a  more  and  more 
intelligent  way.  With  and  without  the 
help  of  the  teacher,  his  muscles  have  be- 
come co-ordinated,  his  attention  trained, 
his  sense  perception  refined,  his  power  of 
discrimination  increased.  The  instrument 
of  consciousness,  the  nervous  system,  has 
thus  been  perfected  while  at  the  same  time 
consciousness  itself  by  the  aid  of  the  sen- 
sory-motor-circuit has  been  unfolding  and 
deepening.  Now  the  hand,  the  most  deli- 
cate tool  of  all,  can  perform  its  part  and 
give  a  power  to  communicate  in  a  new 
language — and  the  child  "  breaks  into  wri- 
ting!" Let  us  analyse — as  the  child  never 
does — the  process  which  leads  to  this  re- 
sult, and  see  how  the  material  is  used  in 
that  process. 

The  process  is  complex;  the  elements  of 
which  it  is  composed  are  fused  in  reality, 
but  must  be  separated  in  order  to  be  under- 
stood. Let  us  take  the  motor  side  first  and 
see  how  the  child  gains  the  necessary  skill 
[118] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

in  guiding  pencil,  crayon,  or  pen  so  that  the 
action  becomes  almost  automatic.  Among 
the  materials  enumerated  in  Chapter  VI, 
is  a  case  containing  ten  metal  squares  with 
insets  of  varying  geometric  forms.  After 
the  child  has  used  the  wooden  insets,  and 
has  learned  to  recognise  the  forms  and  place 
them  correctly  in  their  proper  squares,  he 
is  given  similar  forms  in  the  metal  insets 
together  with  drawing  paper  and  coloured 
pencils.  He  first  passes  his  fingers  lightly 
around  the  inside  edge  of  the  metal  square, 
then  traces  the  same  with  his  pencil  on  the 
paper,  then  he  fits  the  inset  to  the  outline 
which  he  has  made  and  draws  with  a  pencil 
of  another  colour  a  line  around  the  outer 
edge  of  that.  He  thus  gets  the  idea  of  the 
form  and  of  the  edge  of  the  form.  He  will 
then  fill  up  the  outlined  form  in  any  colour 
he  chooses.  At  first  his  result  will  be  most 
imperfect;  he  has  little  or  no  control  over 
the  pencil,  little  idea  of  design.  But  if  the 
teacher  suggests  the  boundary  within  which 
the  child  should  work  and  gives  him  plenty 
of  material  and  time,  the  results  will  aston- 
ish her.  Some  day  she  will  see  the  outline 
filled  in  with  light,  even,  parallel  strokes 
of  the  pencil  in  most  harmonious  shades. 
[119] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

The  child  without  knowing  it  has  gained  the 
necessary  control  of  hand  and  tool  to  make 
writing  an  easy  and  accomplished  fact. 
During  this  period  his  tactile  sense  has  also 
been  developed  by  the  use  first  of  the  rough 
and  smooth  boards,  then  of  the  sandpaper 
letters,  while  by  passing  his  fingers  lightly 
over  and  over  these  letters  his  muscular 
memory  has  been  trained.  At  the  same 
time  he  has  visualised  the  letters  by  means 
of  the  script  alphabet,  and  through  hearing 
them  sounded  has  gained  also  an  auditory 
impression  of  them.  By  this  three-fold  asso- 
ciation of  motor,  visual,  and  auditory 
stimuli,  his  mental  image  of  the  graphic 
symbol  has  become  perfected.  Now  he  is 
ready  to  combine  sounds  into  words  and  at 
the  same  time  make  the  words  thus  learned 
with  the  script  alphabet.  At  some  happy 
moment  he  will  realize  his  ability  to  write 
the  word  with  pencil  or  crayon  on  paper  or 
blackboard  instead  of  with  the  script  alpha- 
bet and  he  will  delight  in  exercising  this 
new  gift.  Very  likely  he  will  do  little  else 
for  several  days  and  will  gain  rapidly  in 
ease  and  accuracy. 

I  watched  one  morning  in  Rome  a  little 
boy  take  the  final  step  which  brought  him 
[120] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

to  the  new  art  of  writing.  For  some  time 
his  control  over  the  tools  for  writing  had 
been  very  good.  He  showed  his  familiarity 
with  the  sounds  of  the  letters  as  he  touched 
them  by  naming  them  correctly.  He  had 
also  combined  various  letters  into  words  by 
the  help  of  the  script  alphabet.  That 
morning  he  formed  the  word  "mano" 
(hand)  on  the  floor  with  the  script  alphabet. 
Then  he  ran  to  the  board,  took  a  piece  of 
chalk  and  wrote  the  word  very  legibly  and 
in  good  style.  Before  this  he  had  traced 
the  letters  so  often  with  his  fingers  that  he 
knew  their  sounds  and  had  recognised  them 
by  sight.  Now  he  had  control  of  the  pen, 
a  visual  image  and  a  motor  response  with 
which  to  respond  to  any  stimulus.  After 
this  he  wrote  in  the  same  way  several  other 
words  that  he  had  learned.  The  next 
step  was  to  put  two  words  together,  "la 
mano"  (the  hand)  and  then  three  or  four 
to  make  a  complete  thought.  From  that 
day  his  progress  was  very  rapid.  Another 
morning  as  I  entered  the  Convent  school 
in  Via  Giusti,  a  group  of  children  ran  up  to 
me  to  wish  me  "good  morning"  with  their 
gentle  courtesy,  and  one  of  them,  a  little 
girl,  lingered  to  ask  my  name.  I  told  her 
[121] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

"Stevens,"  pronouncing  the  vowels  in  the 
Italian  manner,  but  that  my  first  name  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Queen  whom  they 
all  love.  In  a  trice  she  had  taken  the  box 
of  script  letters  and  with  them  had  made  on 
the  green  felting  on  the  floor  the  words, 
"  Welcome  to  Signora  Elena  Stevensi." 
The  teacher  in  passing  made  no  correction 
but  said  with  emphasis  "Stevens — Stev- 
ens." The  child  listened  and  quick  as  a 
flash  took  away  the  i  at  the  end  of  the  name. 
Then  she  went  to  the  blackboard  where 
she  wrote  the  same  sentence  with  a  crayon, 
forming  her  letters  very  beautifully,  but 
erasing  several  until  the  form  pleased  her. 
The  combination  of  courtesy,  grace  and  skill 
in  this  little  five-year-old  girl  was  very 
typical  of  a  Montessori  child.  This  illus- 
tration also  shows  the  power  gained  through 
this  method  to  cope  with  unfamiliar  con- 
sonant endings  in  a  foreign  tongue.  Why 
cannot  our  American  children  conquer  the 
difficulties  of  our  unphonetic  language  in 
the  same  way? 

The  effect  of  previous  training  in  drawing 

and  of  the  motor,  visual,  and  tactile  memory 

of   the   words   which    these  children  have 

acquired  is  to  give  them  an  inner  vision  of 

[122] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

perfection  which  is  astounding.  I  watched 
many  children  write,  always  with  surprise 
at  the  power  they  showed  to  reproduce  so 
perfectly  the  ideal,  and  at  their  power  of 
self-correction;  for  having  a  clear  mental 
image  of  what  they  wished  to  write,  they 
were  content  to  erase  time  after  time  until 
the  result  satisfied  their  standards. 

In  a  sense  this  process  of  learning  to 
write  has  involved  a  similar  one  of  learn- 
ing to  read,  but  as  yet  it  is  not  reading  to 
interpret  logical  thought  but  for  simple  ex- 
pression and  nomenclature.  This  seems  to 
me  true  to  the  order  of  the  child's  develop- 
ment in  which  the  senses  and  muscles  must 
be  trained  before  consciousness  is  awakened 
to  higher  functions.  The  steps  are  simi- 
lar to  those  we  adults  take  in  learning  a 
new  language,  when  our  first  efforts  at 
expression  are  for  nomenclature  merely. 

At  this  point  the  child  will  make  constant 
use  of  slips  of  paper  on  which  are  written 
words,  phrases  and  sentences.  These  will 
often  be  used  in  the  form  of  a  game.  The 
children  seated  quietly  in  their  usual  places 
have  these  slips  handed  to  them  which  have 
been  skillfully  prepared  and  selected  by  the 
teacher.  Each  child  opens  his  slip  of  paper. 
[123] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

reads  the  words  written  therein  and  then 
carries  out  the  direction.  There  is  oppor- 
tunity found  for  group  exercises  as  the  com- 
mands may  involve  the  help  of  several 
children  to  carry  them  out.  Or  the  teacher 
will  at  some  moment  in  the  morning  write 
a  question  on  the  board  and  wait  to  see 
what  child  will  be  moved  to  write  an  answer 
underneath.  By  means  of  these  and  other 
devices,  the  idea  takes  root  in  the  child's 
mind  that  writing  is  for  expression  of 
thought  and  a  silent  means  of  communica- 
tion. He  is  then  ready  to  make  the  transi- 
tion from  script  to  print  and  to  learn  the 
symbols  for  the  printed  page.  This  method 
of  procedure  reverses  our  usual  order  but 
I  believe  it  is  based  on  a  sound  educational 
principle.  Most  of  the  reading  I  saw  in 
Rome — I  use  the  word  advisedly — was  silent 
when  it  was  for  interpretation  of  thought. 
Dr.  Montessori  feels  that  to  read  aloud  is 
an  art  demanding  more  maturity  than  the 
very  young  children  possess.  They  receive 
plenty  of  training  in  articulation,  pronun- 
ciation, and  enunciation  but  it  is  motor- 
training  and  not  confused  with  interpreta- 
tive reading.  Among  the  older  children, 
however,  I  heard  some  reading  aloud  per- 
[124] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

feet  in  enunciation  and  expression.  The 
children  had  in  this  art  also  the  same  posi- 
tive mental  image  of  the  spoken  word  as 
of  the  written. 

Together  with  this  united  training  in  wri- 
ting and  reading  comes  practice  in  compo- 
sition. The  idea  of  drudgery  has  been 
completely  eliminated  from  the  process  of 
gaining  technical  skill,  for  the  child's  interest 
in  his  drawing  has  given  him  a  motive  and  he 
has  filled  with  eagerness  sheet  after  sheet  in 
completing  one  design  after  another,  and  with 
his  free  designs.  He  has  quickly  learned 
the  alphabet  by  sound  and  sight  and  has 
combined  letters  or  sounds  into  words. 
These  words  he  has  made  into  simple  phrases 
or  sentences  in  the  manner  indicated  above. 
Just  as  a  baby  enjoys  making  the  sounds 
which  are  finally  to  lead  to  intelligible 
speech  so  the  child  uses  his  new  ability 
with  the  same  zest.  Reading  is  a  pleasure 
to  him  because  he  has  mastered  the  sounds 
and  symbols;  in  the  same  way  composi- 
tion is  not  an  irksome  task  but  has  interest 
because  he  has  acquired  mastery  of  his  pen 
and  has  a  clear  image  of  the  words  he  wishes 
to  use.  I  spent  one  morning  at  the  school 
in  St.  Angelo  in  Pescheria  in  the  room 
[125] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

where  there  are  older  pupils  who  have  been 
trained  according  to  Montessori  methods. 
To  one  of  the  little  girls  who  greeted  me  I 
gave  as  a  souvenir  of  my  visit,  a  flower  I 
had  picked  the  day  before  at  Tivoli.  I 
had  forgotten  the  incident  in  my  absorbed 
observation  of  the  children,  when  an  hour 
or  so  later  the  same  child  brought  me  a 
letter — which  she  had  written  without  any 
suggestion  from  the  teacher — in  which  she 
spoke  of  the  foreign  lady  who  addressed 
her  in  Italian,  described  the  flower  and  ex- 
pressed her  thanks  for  the  little  remem- 
brance. All  this  was  written  without  a 
mistake  or  erasure  and  with  almost  perfect 
penmanship  and  was  an  example  of  spon- 
taneous composition,  the  result  of  pleasur- 
able activity. 

In  the  same  room  were  children  eagerly 
writing  simple  little  compositions  about 
"Water,"  a  subject  which  they  had  discussed 
with  the  teacher  the  day  before.  They 
spent  of  their  own  volition  over  an  hour  in 
this  way  without  any  interruption  by  the 
teacher.  They  had  in  most  cases  very 
definite  ideas  of  what  they  desired  to  say, 
showing  they  had  the  same  power  to  get  a 
clear  idea  as  they  had  power  to  visualise. 
[126] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

This  clearness  of  conceptual  thought,  as 
well  as  of  mental  image  came,  I  believe, 
from  their  interested  attention  and  was 
only  another  result  of  their  sense  training. 

A  teacher  trained  by  Montessori  must 
readjust  her  sense  of  values.  Many  things 
formerly  considered  important  she  must  be 
content  to  neglect.  Many  other  things 
acquire  a  new  emphasis.  In  this  manner 
she  will  conserve  time  and  intellectual  force 
and  "the  false  will  no  longer  seem  great"  nor 
"the  truth  so  small."  .  .  .  For  one  thing, 
she  must  forget  preconceived  ideas  as  to 
the  order  in  which  the  different  elements 
of  knowledge  are  absorbed  by  the  child. 
"The  three  B/s"  may  stand  in  turn  for  any 
one  of  the  various  forms  of  activity.  One 
child  will  write  before  he  reads.  Another 
will  make  rapid  progress  in  arithmetic,  at 
first  to  the  neglect  of  the  other  two  factors 
in  his  education.  For  the  order  in  which 
these  have  been  taken  up  in  this  chapter 
is  not  one  that  is  necessary  to  follow  in 
practice  with  the  children.  Temperamental 
differences  must  be  the  guide. 

During  the  child's  progression  towards 
reading  and  writing  he  has  probably  in 
much  the  same  way  mastered  the  elements 
[127] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  number.  While  his  sense  of  touch  has 
been  quickened  by  the  rough  and  smooth 
tablets,  geometric  insets  and  sandpaper 
letters,  he  has  also  used  the  sandpaper 
figures  and  acquired  a  muscular  memory 
of  them  as  he  did  of  the  letters.  All  children 
come  to  school  with  some  knowledge  of 
number  as  a  foundation  to  build  upon. 
As  they  use  the  Long  Stair,  at  first  for 
training  in  dimension  and  in  discrimina- 
tion of  length,  they  will  recognise  the  divi- 
sions on  the  rods  and  gradually  learn  the 
series  to  ten.  They  will  count  by  means  of 
the  red  and  blue  divisions,  one;  one,  two;  one, 
two,  three;  and  so  on,  until  they  can  count 
ten  on  the  three  sides  of  the  triangle  which 
is  formed  by  the  rods  when  they  are  correctly 
placed.  As  they  learn  the  sandpaper  fig- 
ures they  will  soon  learn  to  place  them  on 
corresponding  rods.  They  will  be  attracted 
by  the  box  of  spindles  and  will  take  pleasure 
in  placing  the  correct  number  in  the  com- 
partment as  indicated  by  the  figures  which 
have  been  placed  there  by  the  teacher  or 
another  child.  This  will  create  an  oppor- 
tunity for  them  to  become  familiar  with 
the  concept  "zero"  ordinarily  so  difficult 
for  a  child  to  grasp.  "Zero  is  nothing/'  a 
[128] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

child  told  me  when  I  asked  her  why  she  had 
no  sticks  in  the  compartment  where  0  was. 
This  and  other  number  concepts  are  devel- 
oped in  many  ways:  by  a  variety  of  games 
in  connection  with  the  phrases  used  for 
reading  and  composition;  in  the  game  of 
silence;  and  in  exercises  in  practical  life, 
such  as  taking  care  of  the  room,  and  setting 
the  table,  and  in  numerous  other  ways,  as 
with  coins  or  with  counters  ranged  in  rows 
to  show  odd  and  even  combinations. 

As  they  use  the  Long  Stair,  always  a 
favorite  game,  the  children  will  often  show 
much  intelligence  and  discover  for  them- 
selves numerical  principles  and  their  appli- 
cations. They  will  spontaneously  devise 
simple  exercises  in  the  four  processes  of 
addition,  subtraction,  multiplication  and 
division  and  so  get  very  early  clear  con- 
cepts of  number  relations.  They  will  vis- 
ualise the  figures  as  they  have  the  letters 
and  use  them  for  expression  of  numerical 
ideas,  passing  in  this  way  from  the  concrete 
to  the  abstract  as  they  did  in  learning  to 
write.  When  a  child  has  expressed  a  numer- 
ical idea  completely  with  the  Long  Stair, 
as  for  example  one  added  to  nine  makes 
ten,  he  readily  learns  the  abstract  symbols 
[129] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

expressing  the  same  idea:  1  +9  =  10.  I  saw 
many  children  using  their  slates  or  the  black- 
board to  record  all  varieties  of  combina- 
tions without  any  dictation  from  the  teacher. 
The  more  difficult  combinations  from  ten 
to  one  hundred  are  learned  with  the  help 
of  a  cardboard  frame  in  which  figures  can 
be  placed  in  any  order  desired  and  by  means 
of  which  the  decimal  system  may  also  be 
learned.  The  art  of  the  teacher  consists 
in  careful  observation  and  record  of  the 
progress  of  each  child  along  this  as  in  other 
lines  of  activity  and  by  skillful  intervention 
and  assistance  to  give  immediate  impetus 
to  the  child's  awakening  intelligence. 
Group  work  is  especially  valuable  here; 
the  teacher  may  join  one  where  several  are 
playing  together  or  she  may  observe  such 
a  group  without  mingling  in  it.  Older 
children  playing  with  younger  not  only 
help  the  latter  but  crystallise  their  own 
ideas.  The  same  perfection  of  technique 
in  writing  numbers  as  letters  and  an  equal 
ability  for  self-correction  through  motor 
memory  and  visualisation  can  be  secured. 
By  following  this  logical  order  as  was  done  in 
gaining  the  technique  of  writing  and  reading 
for  nomenclature,  the  child  is  again  led  from 
[130] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  from  sense  per- 
ception to  conception.  Thus  through  the 
three-fold  avenue  of  reading,  writing,  and 
number,  he  passes  to  the  wide  fields  of 
knowledge  open  to  him  through  the  medium 
of  language  as  the  expression  of  conceptual 
thought. 

By  this  method,  therefore,  the  child  pro- 
gresses steadily  and  rapidly  from  that  stage 
of  sense  activity  which  is  thought  of  as 
the  kindergarten  period  into  the  stage  of 
intellectual  curiosity  and  activity  which 
we  call  the  elementary  grade.  The  fence 
between  the  two  is  completely  broken 
down.  The  rate  of  advance  from  one  to 
the  other  varies  with  the  individual.  No 
child  should  be  held  back  whose  instincts 
are  ripening  and  who  shows  a  desire  to  write, 
to  read  or  to  make  number  combinations. 
Many  a  healthy  child  loving  work  has  a 
contempt  for  the  kindergarten  and  wishes 
to  go  to  a  "real"  school.  Dr.  Montessori 
firmly  believes  that  to  a  child  play  is  really 
work  and  she  appeals  to  the  earnestness 
inherent  in  his  nature  by  her  material 
which  gives  his  active  mind  such  food  as  it 
craves. 

There  should  be  no  fear  of  precocity. 
[131] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

The  very  word  suggests  one-sided  unnatural 
development  foreign  to  every  idea  of  Dr. 
Montessori.  Her  great  fear  is  that  we  in 
our  zeal  may  seize  on  a  part  rather  than  a 
whole.  By  her  method,  honestly  followed, 
many  a  child  now  forced  ahead  would  be 
allowed  to  take  his  own  time,  just  as  other 
children  would  simply  and  easily  follow 
their  more  rapid  rate  of  growth.  Nor 
should  the  growth  of  the  child  be  mental 
only,  for  parallel  with  the  advance  in  tech- 
nique, in  mental  imagery  from  expression 
along  these  three  lines  of  writing,  reading, 
and  number  should  develop  also  true  liberty 
and  obedience.  The  child  ought  to  become 
master  of  himself  as  he  has  become  master 
of  the  tools  which  are  to  serve  him.  His 
spontaneous  interest  and  his  free  choice 
should  arouse  and  strengthen  his  power  of 
attention  and  of  will. 

A  child  reared  in  the  environment  of  a 
Montessori  school  may  well  be  compared 
to  an  architect  of  humble  beginning,  who, 
given  the  right  opportunity  and  freedom  to 
choose  his  own  " helpers  and  servers,"  as 
Ibsen  would  say,  rises  to  the  eminence  of 
master-builder.  So  a  "Children's  House" 
as  it  provides  the  proper  implements  of 
[132] 


"THE  THREE  R'S"  IN  A  NEW  FORM 

learning,  the  unique  method,  the  atmos- 
phere of  freedom  so  conducive  to  the  libera- 
tion of  the  child's  initiative — in  a  word, 
in  its  ideal  equipment  for  an  all-round 
development — may  become  the  scaffold  on 
which  the  child  builds  for  future  greatness. 


[133] 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

"The  social  environment  of  individuals  in  the  process 
of  education  is  the  home." 

Two  pictures  come  to  my  mind  as  I 
think  of  the  subject  of  this  chapter.  In 
the  first  I  see  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  poorer 
quarters  of  Rome  a  " Children's  House" 
in  the  center  of  a  block  of  buildings  that 
has  been  reconstructed  to  fit  the  needs  of 
the  tenants  who  inhabit  it.  The  vision 
appears  before  me  of  a  large,  bright,  airy 
room  in  this  house,  filled  with  little  children 
who,  though  plainly  and  even  poorly  dressed, 
are  clean,  happily  active,  and  intelligent. 
Their  Directress  is  quietly  busy,  passing 
about  from  one  to  another  of  the  group, 
always  ready  to  respond  to  any  need,  but 
never  very  much  in  evidence.  Assisting  her 
in  the  care  of  the  children  as  they  come  and 
go,  or  as  they  need  practical  help  in  one  way 
or  another,  or  else  preparing  the  food  for 
the  simple  noonday  meal,  is  a  mother.  Be- 
cause of  her  love  for  her  own  child  she 
[134] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

gives  tender  care  to  all  other  children. 
Because  of  her  thoughtful  study  of  her 
child  and  her  sympathetic  observation  of 
the  teacher,  she  is  able  to  follow  intelligently 
and  helpfully  her  methods  and  give  her 
real  assistance. 

The  other  picture  reveals  a  beautiful 
home  in  the  heart  of  the  residential  section 
of  Rome.  In  a  luxurious  room,  surrounded 
by  evidences  of  wealth  and  culture,  sits  a 
mother  with  her  boy  and  girl  at  her  side. 
These  are  children  of  the  rich,  yet  they  are 
as  simply  dressed,  as  independent  of  service 
as  if  they  had  been  born  to  poverty.  They 
have  known  no  other  school  than  that  of 
Dr.  Montessori  and  their  mother  desires 
no  other  for  them.  At  every  stage  in  their 
progress  she  stands  ready  with  encourage- 
ment, with  a  discerning  knowledge  of  their 
needs,  supplementing  or  carrying  out  at 
home  all  that  they  learn  in  school.  Occu- 
pied and  interested  as  she  is  in  the  social  and 
philanthropic  life  of  the  city,  she  yet  finds 
time  for  observation,  for  records,  for  ex- 
periments, for  consultation. 

It  is  such  a  response  from  mothers  in 
widely  separated  strata  of  society  to  the 
spirit  of  Dr.  Montessori's  teachings  that 
[135] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

shows  its  power;  and  I  see  with  gratifica- 
tion a  similar  desire  on  the  part  of  Ameri- 
can parents  regardless  of  class  to  under- 
stand and  apply  the  theories  set  forth  in 
her  book. 

Whatever  may  be  the  reason — whether 
the  prominence  given  to  the  movement  by 
a  leading  magazine,  or  whether  something 
in  the  system  itself  has  struck  a  sympa- 
thetic chord — the  fact  remains  that  many 
parents  have  shown  by  the  remarks  they 
have  made  or  the  questions  they  have 
asked,  that  they  have  read  the  articles, 
attended  lectures  on  the  subject,  or  read 
Dr.  Montessori's  book  most  intelligently. 
The  interest  thus  manifested  is  to  be  com- 
pared, I  think,  with  that  taken  in  the 
kindergarten  movement  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  last  century  when  mothers'  classes 
and  lectures  on  FroebePs  " Mother  Play7' 
drew  thousands  of  mothers  from  their 
homes  to  study  how  best  to  help  their 
children.  In  view  of  these  circumstances, 
it  is  fair  then  to  ask  the  question:  Can  the 
mothers  learn  more  from  this  movement  or 
system  than  from  the  kindergarten;  and  if 
so,  what  is  the  particular  message  to  them? 
Mrs.  Dorothy  Canfield  Fisher  has  spoken 
[136] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

as  a  mother  to  mothers  and  perhaps  fur- 
ther comments  on  the  subject  are  superflu- 
ous, yet  I  shall  feel  that  one  vitally  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  whole  system  is  neglected 
if  some  discussion  as  to  the  relation  of  the 
parent  as  well  as  the  teacher  to  this  method 
is  omitted  from  this  book. 

There  is  a  possible  significance  in  the 
names  that  have  been  universally  adopted 
to  describe  the  environment  of  the  child 
in  the  two  systems.  "Der  Kindergarten" 
(the  child's  garden).  "La  Casa  dei  Bam- 
bini" (the  children's  house).  In  one  they 
play,  in  the  other  they  live;  one  suggests 
a  part  only  of  their  life,  the  other  the  whole 
of  it.  The  same  significant  difference  is 
felt  as  one  visits  first  a  Kindergarten  then 
a  Casa  dei  Bambini;  the  former  should 
be  and  often  is  amply  provided  with  all 
that  pertains  to  the  child's  development 
through  play,  the  other  suggests  in  every 
careful  detail  the  complete  life  of  a  child 
in  his  varied  activities  including  play. 
And  the  deeper  relation  of  the  parent  to 
the  Montessori  system  is  felt  pervasively 
in  every  true  Montessori  school,  for  it  is  a 
type  of  a  home.  There  should  be  much  of 
the  mother  in  every  teacher,  and  much  of 
[137] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

the  teacher  in  every  mother,  so  that  working 
together  in  intelligent  partnership  of  love  for 
the  child,  no  divorce  of  ideals  or  of  means 
is  possible.  The  whole  movement  is  in 
danger  if  such  a  copartnership  is  not  estab- 
lished and  its  terms  loyally  kept  by  parents 
and  teachers.  Only  in  this  way,  can  the  uni- 
fied continuity  and  progressive  character  of 
the  method  be  preserved.  A  true  Montes- 
sori  parent  must,  therefore,  be  willing  to 
give  much  time  to  child  study. 

What  do  we  mean  by  " child  study"? 
What  does  it  involve?  What  include? 
These  words  have  been  a  shibboleth  of  Ameri- 
can teachers  for  years.  Classes  for  train- 
ing in  its  principles  and  practice  are  found 
in  every  normal  school  and  pedagogical 
institute.  A  complete  bibliography  of  the 
literature  of  the  subject  would  be  very 
extensive.  Nor  has  this  movement  been 
confined  to  the  teaching  profession.  The 
interest  of  parents  has  been  enlisted;  long 
sets  of  questions  have  been  sent  to  them, 
systematic  habits  of  observation  have  been 
suggested,  so  that  in  theoretical  results 
already  obtained,  we  are  far  ahead  of  Italy 
in  this  matter.  At  first  thought  it  would 
seem  then  as  if  Dr.  Montessori  could  add 
[138] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

nothing  to  the  work  already  done.  But 
if  we  look  deeper  I  think  we  shall  find  a 
clue  which  will  guide  us  to  the  discovery 
of  principles  implicit  in  her  system,  which 
if  applied  in  her  spirit  would  make  child 
study  an  even  more  vital  and  important 
factor  in  education  than  it  has  heretofore 
proven.  Child  study  as  it  is  often  defined 
and  practised,  has  been  too  formal,  too 
much  of  a  cut-and-dried  thing.  As  teachers, 
we  have  snatched  time  from  our  over- 
burdened days  of  study  or  of  teaching  to 
follow  a  syllabus  carefully  prepared  by  some 
professor,  and  to  make  the  observations  and 
experiments  suggested  by  it.  If  parents, 
we  have  followed  with  painful  exactness 
the  directions  contained  in  some  set  of 
questions  in  order  that  we  might  make  our 
records  intelligible.  Our  chief  purpose  has 
been  to  gather  facts,  to  compile  statistics 
—which  would  throw  some  light  on  the 
problem — our  spirit  has  been  rather  too 
coldly  scientific.  The  key  to  the  difference 
between  such  formal  study  and  that  which 
Dr.  Montessori  pleads  for  is  found  in  the 
point  of  view.  The  emphasis  is  changed 
from  the  study  to  the  object  of  study,  the 
child.  Observation,  in  a  spirit  of  love,  of 
[139] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

every  manifestation  of  each  living  human 
being  in  its  spontaneous  expression  of  energy, 
and  experiment  based  on  such  loving  ob- 
servation of  each  child's  reaction  to  stimuli 
of  whatever  nature,  is,  I  think,  what  Dr. 
Montessori  has  in  mind  when  she  tells  us 
to  study  the  child.  It  is  not  a  child  ham- 
pered by  the  arbitrary  position  in  which  he 
has  been  placed,  or  bound  down  to  tasks 
dictated  to  him  that  is  the  subject  of  such 
observation;  but  one  left  free  to  do  the  work 
he  has  chosen  in  the  way  he  instinctively 
elects,  thus  revealing  his  unfettered  per- 
sonality to  the  sympathetic  insight  of  his 
parent  or  teacher. 

Such  a  revelation  of  personality  is  neces- 
sary if  the  teacher  or  parent  is  to  direct 
with  a  wise  comprehension  the  "sane  and 
sturdy  growth"  of  the  child  under  her 
charge.  A  study  of  child  psychology  dem- 
onstrates that  the  native  capacity  of  each 
individual — the  brain  quality,  so  to  speak— 
while  it  can  be  developed  and  perfected, 
cannot  be  changed.  This  native  endowment 
is  fundamentally  different  in  one  child  or 
another;  just  as  the  amount  of  nervous 
energy  in  each  differs.  The  mother  love 
or  the  teacher  love  should  watch  the  un- 
[140] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

folding  life  of  each  child  with  an  absorbing 
interest  and  intense  desire  to  help  its  normal 
expansion  both  mentally  and  physically. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  physical 
differences  in  our  children — we  do  not 
wonder  at  blue  eyes  in  one  sister  and 
brown  in  the  other,  or  a  graceful  slenderness 
of  form  in  the  one  and  a  robust  sturdiness 
in  the  other.  Yet  we  express  naive  sur- 
prise at  psychical  differences,  which  are 
just  as  much  to  be  expected,  and  it  is  still 
difficult  for  us  to  look  for  varying  capaci- 
ties and  powers  in  the  mental  life  of  our 
children  as  well  as  in  their  physical.  To 
free  the  life  force,  to  guide  it,  to  adapt  the 
environment  to  it,  to  protect  its  individu- 
ality, to  prevent  any  mutilation  or  impris- 
onment of  it — that  is  what  we  mean  by 
education,  and  such  education  must  have  as 
its  inspiring  force  the  study  of  the  child. 

This  study  to  be  adequate  must  cover  every 
side  of  the  child's  life,  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  or  spiritual — with  a  complete  recog- 
nition of  the  interdependence  of  each.  "A 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body"  has  too  often 
been  interpreted  as  if  it  were  simply  an 
ideal  instead  of  a  necessity.  We  are  gradu- 
ally yet  surely  coming  to  believe  that 

[141] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

health  of  body  means  also  health  of  mind 
and  spirit  and  that  the  foundations  of 
that  soundness  of  body  lie  very  deep. 
For  years  it  has  been  a  mooted  question: 
Which  exerts  the  greater  influence  upon 
the  child,  heredity  or  environment?  But 
in  this  last  decade,  scientists  and  educators 
are  coming  to  agree  that  even  more  impor- 
tant than  either  of  these  in  its  effect  upon 
the  child  is  the  pre-natal  period.  So  that 
study  of  the  child  really  begins  for  the 
mother  as  she  guards  its  pre-natal  life.  In 
her  hands  are  often  "the  issues  of  life  and 
death,"  for  whether  the  child  that  is  to  be 
born  of  her  is  blessed  with  a  sound  body, 
with  a  perfectly  developed  nervous  system, 
or  the  opposite,  often  depends  on  her  wis- 
dom and  good  sense  during  the  critical 
period  antedating  its  birth.  After  birth 
the  study  becomes  more  definite,  more 
fascinating,  more  personal,  as  that  little 
human  wonder,  a  conscious  life,  slowly 
unfolds. 

I  have  alluded  elsewhere  to  the  prolonga- 
tion of  the  period  of  infancy,  which  is  the 
prerogative  of  humanity,  as  an  important 
factor  in  evolution.  Plasticity  as  opposed 
to  fixity  is  indispensable  to  progress.  This 
[142] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

quality  is  inherent  in  the  human  brain  cells 
to  a  much  greater  degree  than  in  those  of 
animals,  for  the  animal's  conscious  life  is 
bound  by  those  fixed  habits  of  the  race 
which  we  call  instincts;  he  can  perform  at 
birth,  as  perfectly  as  he  ever  will,  many  of 
the  acts  necessary  to  his  life.  The  chick 
pecks  at  its  food  and  follows  the  call  of  its 
mother  almost  as  soon  as  it  is  out  of  the 
shell.  The  higher  animals  with  a  more 
complex  nervous  system,  such  as  the  mam- 
mals, are  more  helpless  at  birth  and  more 
dependent  on  the  mother  who  feeds  or 
suckles  them,  and  so  have  more  of  that 
plasticity  which  is  essential  for  their  develop- 
ment. But  such  dependence  in  the  animal 
is  very  different  in  kind  and  degree  from  the 
helpless  infancy  of  the  human  race.  This 
period  is  a  time  which,  as  is  well  known, 
may  be  invaluable  to  the  mother  for  careful 
observation.  Much  has  been  said  of  this 
lengthened  infancy  but  little  thought  has 
been  given  to  the  period  of  quiet  which  our 
advanced  civilisation  imposes  on  most  moth- 
ers as  they  recover  from  child-bearing.  If 
the  pre-natal  period  is  a  vital  one  in  its 
effect  upon  the  child's  future  well-being 
and  progress,  of  corresponding  importance  is 
[143] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

this  time  of  convalescence  for  the  mother. 
Weeks  of  withdrawal  from  the  usual  routine, 
passed  in  close  intimacy  with  the  new  life 
which  has  been  given  to  the  world  may 
provide,  if  properly  used,  a  wonderful  oppor- 
tunity for  forming  habits  of  attentive  and 
loving  study  of  the  baby  which  can  easily 
be  carried  on  after  the  ordinary  duties  of 
life  are  again  resumed. 

This  study  to  be  effective  ought  to  be 
most  comprehensive.  On  the  physical  side, 
of  first  importance  is  a  proper  understand- 
ing of  the  laws  of  growth.  The  mother  of 
to-day  has  learned  from  her  physician  the 
necessity  for  observing  and  recording  her 
baby's  weight  at  frequent  intervals,  but 
few  realise  the  necessity  for  studying  the 
child's  growth  in  height,  in  chest  expansion, 
and  in  other  ways;  or  for  some  knowledge 
of  the  normal  rate  of  increase.  Professor 
Tyler's  "Growth  and  Education"  has  some 
valuable  chapters  which  parents  and  teach- 
ers alike  might  consult  with  profit.  A  bio- 
logical chart  similar  to  that  found  on  pages 
76  and  77  of  "The  Montessori  Method'' 
could  easily  be  prepared  by  a  mother  and 
on  it  she  could  record  changes  in  weight, 
height,  breadth  of  chest,  length  of  limb 
[144] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

compared  with  length  of  trunk,  and  some 
cranial  measurements.  Such  a  chart  could 
be  continued  by  the  teacher  after  the  child 
reaches  school  age.  The  question  of  exer- 
cise is  also  very  important.  The  little  baby 
is  normally  very  active  and  craves  exercise 
without  which  muscular  power  would  fail 
to  develop  and  co-ordination  would  be  im- 
possible. Most  mothers  have  learned  the 
wisdom  of  giving  the  baby  plenty  of  fresh 
air  and  freedom  in  the  manner  of  dress 
and  position,  so  that  the  random,  impulsive 
movements  so  characteristic  and  so  valuable 
may  have  free  scope.  But  a  deeper  study  of 
the  laws  of  muscular  development  would  give 
the  mother  a  clue  to  the  kinds  of  movements 
natural  to  the  young  child,  such  as  kicking, 
wriggling,  grasping;  and  would  guide  her  own 
attitude  to  these.  In  this  she  must  exercise 
a  wise  common  sense.  Babies  fondled  too 
much,  who  are  tossed  and  tumbled  about  or 
whose  natural  sleep  is  too  frequently  inter- 
fered with  may  have  their  nervous  system 
injured.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  baby  is  left 
entirely  alone,  he  misses,  as  Professor  Tyler 
suggests,  not  only  that  opportunity  for 
strengthening  his  muscular  system  which 
animals  give  their  young  as  they  lick  and 
[145] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

fondle  them,  but  also  the  stimulation  given 
by  a  mother's  love. 

Still  another  question  for  careful  consider- 
ation is  that  of  nutrition.  On  this  point  also 
most  American  mothers  of  the  upper  class 
have  the  benefit  of  the  advice  of  physicians 
who  are  also  child  specialists,  and  as  a  rule 
follow  carefully  their  directions.  But  they 
lack  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  intimate  re- 
lation between  growth  and  nutrition.  Just 
as  the  environment  of  the  school  should  be 
fitted  to  the  needs  of  the  child  so  in  its  pro- 
vision for  cleanliness,  sunshine,  fresh  air  and 
quiet,  as  well  as  in  its  furnishings  and  deco- 
rations, should  the  nursery  be  adapted  to  the 
child's  scale  of  dimensions  and  his  sensory 
requirements. 

Because  of  rapid  growth  at  this  period  the 
child  needs  a  sufficient  amount  of  food  to 
supply  the  requisite  energy,  yet  because  of 
the  immature  condition  of  the  digestive 
organs  the  nourishment  must  be  very  fluid 
and  of  the  same  temperature  as  the  body. 
The  baby  does  not  need  the  food  contain- 
ing starch  and  sugar  which  the  adult  craves, 
but  does  require  albumen  for  the  upbuilding 
of  bone  and  tissue  and  a  great  deal  of  water. 
Thirst  should  be  the  normal  condition  of  a 
[146] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

young  growing  child  and  he  should  not 
only  have  water  in  addition  to  his  milk 
but  frequent  baths. 

But  the  physical  is  only  one  side  of  a 
child's  nature  which  unfolds  under  the 
watchful  eye  of  the  mother.  Inherited  in- 
stincts and  tendencies,  innate  peculiarities, 
special  powers  and  capacities,  one  by  one 
observed  in  order  to  be  encouraged  or 
repressed  as  they  are  helpful  or  harmful, 
gradually  reveal  to  her  the  higher  spiritual 
side  of  her  child.  The  principles  of  libera- 
tion of  the  inner  force,  of  non-correction, 
of  independence  and  of  true  obedience 
must  be  accepted  and  honestly  adhered 
to  from  the  beginning.  The  principles  of 
non-correction  and  independence,  for  in- 
stance, must  make  a  strong  appeal  to  all 
thoughtful  mothers.  We  all  know  the  type 
of  child  which  is  described  by  the  ex- 
pression "tagged  to  his  mother's  apron 
strings"  and  we  all  know  the  secret  desire 
of  every  parent  worthy  the  name,  that  of 
making  a  man  of  the  boy  or  a  brave  woman 
of  the  girl.  If  nagging  or  too  much  inhibi- 
tion is  made  the  daily  practice  in  the  home, 
the  child  cannot  develop  along  the  lines 
which  make  for  a  strong  individuality. 
[147] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

Of  course  the  principle  of  non-correction 
must  be  correlated  with  that  of  necessary 
inhibition,  and  the  wise  mother  will  learn 
by  this  study  of  the  child  which  one  to  use 
as  the  occasion  demands.  Ideals  of  service, 
distinctions  between  good  and  evil,  right 
and  wrong,  truth  and  error,  can  be  incul- 
cated by  a  watchful  mother  who  directs 
with  loving  insight  the  development  of  her 
child. 

On  the  mental  side,  careful  observation 
and  study  of  the  beginning  of  the  sensory 
life  of  the  child  which  develops  conscious- 
ness is  equally  necessary.  The  foundation 
for  that  later  sensory  training  in  the  school 
should  be  laid  in  the  nursery.  The  Mon- 
tessori  material  provides  for  the  needs 
and  interests  of  very  young  children.  In 
Italy  children  two  years  old  are  often  seen 
in  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  using  the  tower, 
prisms,  and  the  frames.  In  America  and 
England,  where  children  enter  school  at  a 
later  age,  this  material  might  be  first  intro- 
•  duced  in  the  home.  The  order  of  sense 
development,  its  relation  to  muscular  con- 
trol and  to  the  growing  conscious  life  of  the 
child  are  all  worthy  of  careful  thought. 
This  period  is  one  in  which  sensory  defects 
[148] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

can  be  detected  and  often  remedied  before 
they  have  advanced  to  an  incurable  or  ab- 
normal stage.  A  mother  whose  unselfish 
love  is  strong  enough  to  make  her  willing 
to  devote  the  necessary  time,  with  habits 
of  thought,  of  observation,  of  systematic 
recording  formed  in  the  manner  suggested 
above  through  the  year  of  pre-natal  life  and 
early  infancy,  will  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course  persist  in  this  method  of  study  of  the 
child  until  the  time  comes  for  her  to  bring 
him  to  school.  Having  been  trained  by 
these  years  of  experience  she  is  then  ready 
to  unite  with  the  teacher  in  interested  and 
intelligent  co-operation.  Or  if  she  is  so 
situated  as  not  to  have  the  advantages  of  a 
good  school  within  reach,  these  same  years 
of  training  will  help  her  to  apply  prin- 
ciples of  the  method  to  the  use  of  the 
material  either  by  herself  or  in  a  group  with 
other  mothers. 

These  considerations  have  naturally  had 
reference  to  the  class  of  mothers  so  for- 
tunately placed  that  they  can  command 
time  for  study  and  have  intelligence  suffi- 
ciently trained  to  undertake  it.  But  for 
the  mothers  who  are  uneducated,  who  being 
wage  earners  have  little  time  for  such  study, 
[149] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

the  socialised  school  must  give  them  the 
training  which  is  absolutely  necessary  in 
order  to  supplement  what  they  themselves 
would  have  given  had  they  had  time  and 
opportunity. 

The  next  topic  for  our  consideration  is 
the  parent's  relation  to  the  spirit  of  the 
system  or  movement.  In  any  walk  of 
life  at  the  present  day  the  parents  are  less 
with  the  child  than  was  formerly  the  case. 
If  they  are  wage  earners,  one  or  both 
parents  must  be  absent  most  of  the  day. 
Neither  has  the  tenement  mother  who  stays 
at  home  always  the  time  or  aptitude  to 
devote  herself  to  her  child.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  mother  is  a  social  worker  or 
philanthropist,  a  society,  literary,  politi- 
cal, or  educational  leader,  the  hours  spent 
with  her  children  are  still  comparatively 
few  in  number.  What  then  is  the  solu- 
tion of  such  a  situation?  Can  the  school 
so  unite  with  the  home  that  it  will  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree  supplement  it  or 
even  take  its  place  by  supplying  the  home 
environment  and  fulfilling  the  maternal 
function?  Only,  I  think,  if  the  parent  and 
the  teacher  are  in  sympathy  so  that  each 
works  harmoniously  with  the  other.  This 
[150] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

can  be  accomplished  if  the  principles  which 
pervade  and  spiritualise  the  system  be 
comprehended  as  fully  and  be  followed  as 
carefully  by  the  parent  as  by  the  teacher. 
The  liberation  of  the  life  force  must  be  the 
aim  of  both,  so  that  the  child  expanding 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  school,  shall  not 
be  stifled  at  home.  Perhaps  in  America, 
in  "Your  United  States"  as  Arnold  Ben- 
nett suggests,  the  danger  is  rather  that  the 
training  in  inhibition  begun  in  school  will 
not  be  adhered  to  at  home. 

The  parent's  share  in  the  education  of 
the  child  in  independence,  obedience,  and 
disciplined  activity  is  very  great,  and  her 
responsibility  cannot  be  shirked  without 
serious  results.  Equally  with  the  teacher 
must  she  make  clear  to  herself  the  ideal 
she  wishes  to  reach.  Even  more  than  the 
teacher,  for  her  temptation  is  greater,  must 
she  sternly  repress  her  own  desire  to  les- 
sen the  child's  freedom  and  weaken  his  in- 
dependence by  over-service.  Her  duty  is 
to  study  the  nature  of  the  child,  protect 
its  personality,  foster  its  instincts  that  they 
may  be  trained  into  useful  and  worthy  hab- 
its, liberate  its  energies  and  guard  against 
the  injury  that  comes  from  careless  neglect 
[151] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  defects  of  speech,  of  carriage,  of  motor 
reaction. 

This  is  a  "  counsel  of  perfection  "  of  course, 
and  only  the  mother  who  is  genuinely 
desirous  of  giving  her  child  its  best  heri- 
tage will  or  can  follow  it.  To  give  the  time 
necessary  for  all  this  entails  a  sacrifice, 
and  the  perfunctory  teacher  or  the  selfish, 
absorbed  parent  who  is  not  willing  to 
devote  much  time  and  energy  to  the  cause, 
has  no  place  in  such  a  system.  The  weak, 
or  lazy,  or  uneducated  parent  will  give  its 
child  love  perhaps,  but  not  wise  super- 
vision; and  to  such,  much  of  what  has  been 
written  will  pass  unheeded.  I  can  only 
hope  that  in  some  indefinable  way,  and 
in  a  time  not  too  far  distant,  such  parents 
may  become  aroused  not  only  to  the  natu- 
ral rights  of  the  child,  but  to  a  sense  of 
their  own  sacred  obligations  and  respon- 
sibilities towards  it  as  parents.  Perhaps 
the  message  from  La  Dottoressa  may  be 
the  very  means  of  universally  firing  the 
mothers  of  the  world  to  a  proper  exercise 
of  their  divinely  given  privilege — the  sane 
and  happy  rearing  of  their  offspring. 

One  difficulty  in  the  way  of  realisation 
of  these  ideals  will  be  found  in  the  condi- 
[152] 


THE  MONTESSORI  PARENT 

tions  of  American  and  English  life.  The 
little  children  of  the  rich  are  too  often 
given  over  to  the  care  of  nurses  and  gover- 
nesses; the  little  children  of  the  poor  must 
be  neglected  by  parents  who  as  wage  earn- 
ers spend  a  long  day  away  from  home. 
In  either  case,  the  opportunity  for  union 
and  co-operation  between  teacher  and  par- 
ent is  lacking.  Whether  these  ideals  if 
brought  home  to  mothers  all  over  the 
country,  can  awaken  a  desire  for  reform, 
both  of  certain  parents  as  well  as  of  the 
conditions,  remains  to  be  seen.  Love  can 
work  wonders  and  the  message  of  this  sys- 
tem reaches  the  parents  by  way  of  their 
hearts. 


[153] 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

"The  teacher  has  too  thoroughly  learned  to  be  the  one 
free  activity  of  the  school." 

THE  place  of  the  teacher,  or  "  Direct- 
ress, "  as  Dr.  Montessori  prefers  to  call  her, 
in  this  system  of  education  is  not  easy  to 
define;  nor  is  the  ideal  suggested  by  it  easy 
to  realise.  Since  my  return  from  Rome  I 
have  studied  with  fresh  interest  not  only 
our  American  children  but  also  their  teachers, 
and  I  have  felt  as  never  before  the  justice 
of  the  criticism  latent  in  the  quotation  which 
heads  this  chapter.  I  have  also  tried  to 
make  definite  to  my  own  mind  the  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  best  Montessori 
teacher  as  found  in  Rome  and  our  own 
conscientious,  intelligent,  alert  kindergar- 
ten and  primary  teachers.  To  do  this  it 
is  necessary  first  to  understand  the  princi- 
ples underlying  Dr.  Montessori's  conception 
of  a  teacher,  just  as  we  have  already  at- 
tempted to  understand  the  controlling  ideas 
which  spiritualise  the  method.  If,  as  so 
[154] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

frequently  stated,  the  root  idea  of  this 
theory  is  to  liberate  the  life  force  within 
each  child  and  guide  its  spontaneous  mani- 
festation into  disciplined  activity,  then  the 
teacher's  place  is  no  longer  primary  but 
secondary.  Her  chief  duty  is  to  observe, 
her  chief  aim,  at  first  at  least,  the  scientific 
yet  sympathetic  study  of  each  child  as  a 
preparation  for  successful  direction  of  his 
progress.  Her  watchwords  are  brevity,  sim- 
plicity, concreteness.  Her  aim  is  rather  to 
suggest  than  to  dictate.  She  stands  behind 
the  child,  not  in  front  of  him;  she  does  not 
so  much  lead  the  child  as  follow  him. 
"She  gives  a  ray  of  light  and  passes  on." 

The  Montessori  system  of  education  is 
both  material  and  spiritual;  neither  element 
is  sufficient  by  itself  and  in  a  true  com- 
bination the  spiritual  force  is  supplied  by 
the  teacher.  The  training  in  child  study 
and  in  psychological  principles  that  fur- 
nishes a  scientific  foundation  for  the  modern 
teacher  is  not  enough  in  itself,  for,  as  Dr. 
Montessori  teaches,  "we  must  seek  to 
combine  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  the 
scientist  with  reverent  love  of  the  child." 
A  true  scientist  absorbed  in  his  observation 
of  some  phenomenon  of  nature,  forgets  him- 
[155] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

self  and  his  surroundings  and  sacrifices 
sometimes  health  or  life  itself  in  pursuit  of 
truth.  Yet  the  fact  or  manifestation  which 
he  studies  awakens  no  love  in  him;  that  love 
is  inspired  by  truth  itself.  The  teacher, 
on  the  contrary,  as  a  scientific  observer 
deals  with  material  that  is  human  and 
lovable.  Instead  of  the  abstract  love  of 
truth  which  is  the  inspiration  of  the  scien- 
tist there  is  the  concrete  devotion  to  the 
individual.  "A  little  child  shall  lead  them." 
Again,  as  a  scientist  studies  an  Insect  or 
flower  in  its  natural  environment,  so  a 
teacher  should  study  the  child  in  that  free 
atmosphere  of  untrammelled  liberty  which 
only  a  schoolroom  planned  and  furnished 
according  to  Montessori  ideas  can  give. 
Plenty  of  space,  opportunity  for  frequent 
changes  of  position,  liberty  to  move  about 
freely  or  to  talk — the  only  requirement  being 
respect  for  the  rights  and  comforts  of 
others — these  are  the  characteristic  features 
of  such  a  Montessori  school  as  I  have  already 
described.  What  is  the  teacher's  relation 
to  it  and  to  the  children  who  use  it?  She 
is  no  longer  "the  one  active  force";  rather 
is  she  the  guide,  the  helper,  the  suggester 
in  a  social  group,  all  active,  all  learning 
[156] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

discipline  through  work.  She  must  her- 
self be  taught  some  hard  lessons  of  re- 
straint, of  self-effacement.  She  must  not 
yield  to  the  desire  to  give  information.  She 
must  be  willing  to  offer  to  a  child  that  true 
aid  which  comes  from  leading  him  to  help 
himself.  She  must  direct  less  and  suggest 
more. 

What  especial  study  of  the  child  is  re- 
quired of  the  teacher  in  order  that  she  may 
play  her  important  part  as  director  of  child- 
hood? In  the  first  place,  it  seems  almost 
superfluous  to  intimate  that  she  must  be 
endowed  with  a  love  of  children  and  a 
capacity  to  understand  them  that  will 
in  itself  arouse  the  mother-instinct  latent 
in  all  women.  In  addition  to  this  her 
early  training  for  the  position  of  teacher 
should  have  included  thorough,  human- 
ised, vitalised  courses  in  child  psychology. 
Following  or  accompanying  this  there  should 
be  special  training  in  the  technique  of 
child  study  as  Dr.  Montessori  understands 
and  practises  it.  An  opportunity  for 
such  training  has  now  been  given  a  large 
body  of  American  and  English  teachers 
in  the  training  school  under  Dr.  Montes- 
sori opened  January,  1913,  in  Rome.  Our 
[157] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

Anglo-Saxon  children  will  soon  reap  the 
benefit  of  that  first-hand  knowledge  of 
technique  which  it  is  impossible  to  gain 
from  any  reading  even  of  such  an  invaluable 
book  as  "The  Montessori  Method."  Such 
a  training  will  provide  as  a  foundation 
some  knowledge  of  anthropology.  A  teacher 
should  become  familiar  with  the  structure 
of  a  child's  body  as  it  differs  from  that 
of  a  mature  human  being.  She  ought  to 
learn  the  varying  rates  of  growth  of  the 
different  organs.  She  should  understand 
how  to  take  important  measurements  which 
will  test  that  growth  as  normal  or  abnormal : 
measurements  of  the  trunk  with  the  child 
erect  or  seated,  of  the  cranium,  of  the  jaws; 
keeping  at  the  same  time  a  careful  record 
of  his  increase  in  weight  month  by  month. 
She  should  be  taught  how  to  facilitate  the 
work  of  the  school  physician  by  arranging 
her  class  records  in  such  a  way  that  a  bio- 
graphical chart  of  each  child  will  be  kept, 
to  which  parent,  physician  and  teacher 
will  have  access.  Such  training  for  the 
methodical  observation  of  the  morpholog- 
ical or  anatomical  growth  of  each  child  will 
fit  her  to  assist  the  mother  in  an  early 
detection  of  any  tendencies,  which  if  un- 
[158] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

checked  would  lead  to  disease  or  deformity 
such  as  adenoids,  curvatures,  flatfoot,  un- 
developed jaws  and  so  on.  In  addition  to 
this  any  defects  of  his  sense  organs,  such  as 
deafness  or  faulty  vision,  can  be  quickly  de- 
tected and  remedied  as  his  growth  in  sense 
perception  is  observed. 

The  teachers  of  the  Montessori  method 
in  Rome  who  have,  to  a  great  extent,  ab- 
sorbed the  spirit  of  its  Founder  have  gained 
from  the  training  and  the  inspiration  they 
have  received,  a  wonderful  power  of  intel- 
ligent comprehension  of  the  child's  actions 
at  work  or  at  play.  These  calm,  quiet, 
restrained  women  who  keep  in  the  back- 
ground, who  talk  as  little  as  possible,  who 
carry  the  policy  of  non-interference  almost 
to  an  extreme,  have  learned  how  to  inter- 
pret child-life  and  how  to  give  the  helpful 
suggestion  or  explanation  that  will  promote, 
not  hinder,  true  freedom. 

Each  child  has  a  natural  "brain  set" 
which  is  peculiar  to  himself  and  should  be 
noted  by  the  teacher  as  a  guide  in  further- 
ing his  development.  If  he  is  "  eye-minded, ' ' 
knowledge  will  come  to  him  largely  at  first 
through  the  sense  of  vision;  if  " ear-minded, " 
through  that  of  hearing;  and  if  "motor- 
[159] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

minded/ '  by  his  muscular  sense  and  that  of 
touch.  This  peculiarity  of  " brain  set"  will 
to  a  great  extent  govern  his  interests.  The 
child  of  the  visual  type  will  be  attracted 
by  colour  or  form,  or  will  be  quick  to  ob- 
serve. If  of  the  auditory  type,  he  will  be 
susceptible  to  the  spoken  word  or  to  music. 
If  of  the  motor-type,  he  will  delight  in  active 
games  or  in  handwork.  As  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  child  develops  and  his  percep- 
tions are  made  keen  and  his  power  for 
logical  thought  awakens,  this  " brain  set" 
will  show  itself  in  relation  to  these  powers 
and  should  be  carefully  noted.  I  was  inter- 
ested in  observing  two  little  girls  whose 
reaction  to  the  same  stimulus  was  most 
interesting  because  so  different.  One  of 
them  had  what  is  often  called  a  verbal 
memory;  her  brain  cells  stored  up  and  re- 
leased at  will  the  name  of  the  thing  she 
played  with.  She  learned  the  names  of  all 
the  fabrics — silk,  cotton,  velvet;  of  the 
simpler  geometric  insets  and  of  many  of  the 
colours  and  did  not  forget  any  of  them. 
The  other  child,  equally  intelligent  though 
in  a  different  way,  had  little  verbal  memory 
but  great  power  of  association.  Every 
train  of  thought  in  her  active  mind  had  its 
[160] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

connection  with  some  other.  A  chance 
word  overheard  in  the  conversation  of  older 
people  would  awaken  a  whole  set  of  associa- 
tions. Learning  in  her  case  will  be  quite 
a  different  process  from  that  of  the  first 
child,  and  both  should  be  studied  so  that 
they  may  be  understood,  and  properly  be- 
cause differently  guided.  I  watched  two 
other  children  as  they  played  with  the 
metal  insets  while  making  designs.  One 
cared  only  for  the  form  and  was  content  to 
outline  more  and  more  accurately  circles, 
ovals  or  triangles  with  no  desire  to  fill  in 
these  outlines  with  colour.  The  other  child 
cared  little  for  the  form  but  loved  to  fill  in 
the  outline  with  combinations  of  colour 
which  grew  more  and  more  harmonious.  To 
me  the  intrinsic  value  of  this  material  is  its 
variety  of  application  and  adaptation,  not 
alone  to  the  many  personalities  using  them 
but  also  the  many-sided  nature  of  each. 
This  free  use  affords  the  teacher  or  the  parent 
an  unusual  opportunity  for  insight  into 
child-nature. 

Such  heedful,  conscientious  study  as  I  have 

indicated  of  the.  ability  and  natural  gifts  of 

each  child  will  be  of  immense  benefit  to  the 

teacher  as  she  follows  her  observation  with 

[161] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

those  experiments  which  she  will  make  as 
she  leads  the  child  from  the  world  of  sensa- 
tions to  that  of  ideas;  but  this  study  must 
be  supplemented  by  a  special  training  for 
such  experiments.  The  problem  now  be- 
comes one  of  intervention,  for  the  activity 
of  the  teacher  must  be  more  direct  as  she 
selects  stimuli  to  which  the  child  will  react 
and  gives  simply,  clearly,  and  concretely 
the  knowledge  for  which  he  is  ready.  But 
her  intervention  should  be  as  slight  as 
possible  that  the  child's  own  power  may  not 
be  stifled.  Her  study  of  the  child  must  now 
be  almost  instinctive  or  intuitive,  for  from 
her  previous  observation  she  should  be  able 
so  to  understand  his  nature  as  to  know  how 
much  to  give  and  how  much  to  withhold, 
where  to  lead  and  where  to  follow.  She 
should  look  forward  most  eagerly  to  the  mo- 
ment when  a  child  passes  from  perception 
to  observation  and  then  to  generalisation. 
She  should  in  every  case  respect  the  child's 
love  of  discovery  and  not  force  but  await  his 
spontaneous  observation  and  the  beginnings 
of  his  logical  thought.  She  should  not  be 
surprised  to  find  this  progress  in  higher  con- 
scious life  appearing  much  sooner  in  some 
children  than  in  others. 
[162] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

It  is  only  by  emphasis  of  the  principle  of 
the  passive  observation  of  his  spontaneous 
life,  that  the  teacher  can  watch  the  develop- 
ment in  the  child  of  those  native  instincts 
which,  trained  into  habits  or  suppressed 
entirely,  will  make  of  him  an  intelligent, 
well-poised  human  being.  This  unfolding 
life  of  the  child  must  become  of  paramount 
interest  to  the  teacher  as  she  regards  it  and 
guides  it  so  she  may  distinguish  between 
manifestations,  which  should  be  repressed, 
and  those  to  be  respected.  Her  aim  is  to 
hinder  or  entirely  suppress  all  harmful  acts, 
that  the '  child  may  in  this  way  be  brought 
to  see  the  difference  between  good  and  evil, 
and  to  understand  that  being  good  does  not 
necessarily  mean  being  quiet.  After  the 
teacher  has,  through  this  constant  devoted 
observation  of  the  child's  activity  and 
through  tactful  suggestion,  helped  him  to 
suppress  wrong  acts  and  has  gained  his  con- 
fidence and  love  she  is  ready  to  obtain  from 
him  as  a  member  of  a  group  that  collective 
order  which  is  an  essential  training  for  life. 
Here  the  great  psychological  principle  of 
habit  comes  to  her  aid;  for  when  a  child 
has  been  given  a  definite  place  to  occupy 
in  time  of  quiet,  he  will  naturally  by  force 
[1631 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  habit  return  to  it  whenever  in  a  similar 
mood.  The  school  day  affords  many  oppor- 
tunities for  training  in  this  collective  order 
which  a  wise  teacher  will  seize  upon.  The 
child7 s  sense  of  harmony,  of  symmetry  can 
be  developed  in  this  way  so  he  will  come 
naturally  to  desire  and  feel  pleasure  in  such 
order. 

The  teacher  must  also  assist  the  child  to 
gain  independence  by  careful  avoidance  of 
any  needless  help.  She  must  allow  him 
from  his  earliest  years  to  wait  on  himself  and 
others,  take  out  and  put  away  the  material, 
move  the  furniture,  carry  the  dishes  if  meals 
are  served,  until  she  has  aided  him  in  this 
way  to  a  conquest  of  himself  and  his  envi- 
ronment. This  independence  so  important 
to  the  moral  life  of  the  child  may  be  fostered 
by  the  teacher  through  her  appeal  to  the 
right  motive.  Dr.  Montessori's  insistence 
on  the  abolition  of  prizes  makes  requisite 
a  substitution  of  other  and  better  incentives. 
To  inspire  in  a  child  delight  in  work  for  the 
work's  sake  and  joy  in  creating  is  a  much 
higher  yet  more  difficult  undertaking  than 
to  give  material  rewards.  Here  a  teacher 
has  to  deal  with  contrary  instincts  and  her 
wisdom  is  shown  in  the  way  she  liberates 
[164] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

the  one  and  suppresses  the  other.  This 
principle  of  abolition  applies  also  to  punish- 
ment. Her  study  of  anthropology  as  well 
as  of  psychology  will  help  her  to  understand 
apparent  willfulness  or  "  naughtiness "  and 
judge  whether  the  cause  is  some  defect 
which  may  be  cured,  some  instinct  not  yet 
aroused  or  some  other  instinct  already  per- 
verted, or  even  arbitrary  expressions  of  the 
teacher's  will  which  the  child  does  not  under- 
stand. There  is  great  danger  just  here  of  a 
misunderstanding  of  a  fundamental  part  of 
the  method  which  might  be  interpreted  as  ad- 
vocating a  system  which  will  develop  a 
"  molly  coddle"  or  a  "  spoiled  child"  or  an 
irrepressible  self-willed  personality,  a  source 
of  terror  to  the  teacher.  Such,  however,  is 
not  the  case;  for  a  child  reared  under  such 
a  regime  should  become  the  embodiment  of 
a  strongly  visualised  ideal  of  a  spontaneous 
yet  disciplined,  active  yet  obedient,  person- 
ality that  is  to  grow  up  under  her  loving 
care  and  observation. 

To  a  thoughtful  teacher  the  child  will 
unveil  his  moral  as  well  as  physical  and 
mental  nature.  She  must  inspire  him  on 
his  path  to  true  obedience  by  first  under- 
standing him.  She  will  have  ascertained 
[165] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

from  her  study  of  psychology  that  just  as 
there  is  a  different  approach  to  knowledge 
by  one  child  or  another  according  to  the 
strength  of  the  sensory  appeal,  visual,  au- 
dible, tactile,  so  when  we  consider  progress 
towards  behavior  in  one  or  another  of  our 
pupils  we  shall  find  varying  types  of  will. 
This  psychology  of  will  has  an  important 
bearing  on  the  moral  culture  of  the  child 
for  it  is  will  under  the  influence  of  emotion 
that  determines  conduct.  In  this  way  each 
child  can  be  stimulated  to  his  own  highest 
moral  unfolding  through  the  liberation  of  his 
voluntary  nature. 

Reference  also  should  be  made  to  the  study 
of  each  child  as  it  forms  one  of  a  group, 
whether  at  work  or  at  play.  Much  has  al- 
ready been  said  of  the  preparation  for  col- 
lective order  and  collective  activity  through 
individual  training.  This  preparation  if  it 
has  been  successful  will  now  place  the  teacher 
and  each  child  of  the  group  in  a  sympa- 
thetic relation  to  each  other  through  mutual 
understanding  and  love,  so  that  the  response 
of  each  to  each  is  as  real  as  it  is  in  in- 
dividual exercises.  The  teacher  then  will 
have  a  right  to  expect  in  this  collective  or 
group  work  not  a  mechanical,  automatic, 
[166] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

drilled,  devitalised  activity  but  movement 
which  is  harmonious  and  united  yet  spon- 
taneous. The  game  of  silence  so  often 
referred  to  is  an  illustration  of  this.  The 
time  when  the  child  is  at  play  in  his  hours  of 
pure  recreation,  when  he  is  out  of  doors  or 
in  the  room  with  his  toys,  should  be  one 
very  precious  to  the  student  of  the  child 
whether  she  be  his  mother  or  his  teacher. 
It  is  when  a  child  is  at  play  that  he  is  most 
spontaneous,  therefore  more  interesting,  be- 
cause unconscious  disclosure  of  his  person- 
ality will  be  made.  The  child's  attitudes, 
choices,  instincts,  tendencies,  capacities,  all 
pass  in  review  before  the  gaze  of  the  thought- 
ful observer  and  give  her  clues  to  be  followed 
in  all  her  later  intercourse  with  him.  The 
Montessori  directress  like  the  kindergartner 
will  find  in  the  morning  talks  which  corre- 
spond with  the  one  to  the  "  morning  circle" 
of  the  other,  many  opportunities  for  helpful 
correlation  of  home  and  school.  The  child, 
expanding  in  the  sympathetic  atmosphere, 
tells  of  his  recreation,  of  things  he  has  noticed 
on  his  way  to  and  from  school,  of  little 
opportunities  he  has  found  for  kindly, 
courteous  actions,  little  services  performed 
for  the  mother.  The  teacher  can  assist  the 
[167] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

formation  of  good  habits  along  these  and 
other  lines,  and  arrest  wrong  tendencies 
which  these  intimate  talks  will  disclose  to 
her,  at  the  same  time  taking  precautions  to 
prevent  any  undue  revelation  of  the  privacy 
of  the  family. 

The  teacher  and  the  mother  meet  as  the 
child  enters  school,  each  with  a  different 
equipment  for  study  of  the  child,  but  both 
actuated  by  the  same  desire,  the  child's 
highest  welfare.  The  results  of  such  thor- 
ough observation  on  the  part  of  teacher  and 
parent  alike  should  be  kept  for  succeeding 
teachers  who  will  afterward  come  into  the 
life  of  the  child,  that  their  power  to  help 
his  growth  may  be  intensified  by  knowledge 
of  his  previous  life,  surroundings,  habits 
and  native  tendencies  and  peculiarities. 

Can  we  make  any  simple  practical  appli- 
cation of  these  principles  of  child  study  as 
we  consider,  in  turn,  the  teacher's  relation 
to  the  child  and  to  the  material  he  is  to 
use?  As  the  teacher  assumes  direction  of 
a  group  of  children  she  has  in  her  own  mind 
a  well-defined  ideal  of  discipline;  not  forced, 
military,  automatic  discipline  but  that  which 
comes  from  self-training  and  self-control. 
This  ideal  will  be  slowly  evolved  as  each 
[168] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

child  adapts  himself  to  the  atmosphere  of 
freedom  and  spontaneous  activity  and  grows 
into  such  a  loving  friendship  with  his  teacher 
who  is  his  guide,  philosopher  and  friend, 
that  he  unconsciously  adopts  her  sugges- 
tions. In  the  Casa  dei  Bambini,  in  Rome, 
which  I  have  already  mentioned,  the  teachers 
reside  in  the  same  block  with  the  families 
of  their  pupils,  and  thus  have  opportunity 
for  intimate  relations  with  the  children,  not 
possible  in  a  country  where  the  co-operation 
I  have  referred  to  is  not  so  easily  obtainable. 
A  shorter  school-day  also  affords  less  oppor- 
tunity to  come  into  intimate  and  affectionate 
bonds  of  sympathy  and  interest  without 
which  the  Montessori  ideal  of  discipline  can- 
not be  fulfilled. 

An  American  or  English  teacher  must 
free  herself  from  many  preconceptions  if 
she  is  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  this  method. 
She  should  realize,  even  more  fully  than  she 
has,  that  the  child's  self  activity  must  be 
provoked,  his  interest  stimulated  and  his 
auto-education  assisted  along  those  lines 
which  he  himself  chooses.  She  must  shift 
her  point  of  view  from  the  subject  matter 
to  that  of  the  child.  She  must  learn  to  feel 
less  anxiety  lest  a  definite  amount  of  infor- 
[169J 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

mation  for  which  she  feels  responsible  may 
not  reach  the  child.  We  feel  that  our  duty 
to  a  child  in  the  elementary  school  is  not 
performed  unless  he  has  each  day  a  full  and 
varied  program  consisting  of  considerable 
training  in  English  and  arithmetic,  some 
geography,  some  history,  some  nature  work 
and  manual  training  and  in  addition  physical 
culture.  My  first  impression  as  I  visited 
in  Rome  one  school  after  another  where 
there  were  older  children  was  always  one  of 
leisure,  of  calm,  of  freedom  from  anxiety 
lest  these  children  should  not  receive  the  all- 
round  education  provided  for  by  the  course 
of  study.  I  felt  at  first  that  something  was 
lacking  when  a  morning  would  pass  without 
any  geography  or  nature  work  for  the  older 
pupils.  Then  I  began  to  realise  that  chil- 
dren naturally  work  intensively  rather  than 
extensively  and  that  the  teachers  in  following 
to  its  logical  end  the  principle  of  spontaneous 
activity,  allow  their  energies  full  outlet  in 
one  direction  at  a  time.  I  saw  four  little 
girls,  seated  together  at  a  table,  spend  the 
whole  morning — except  that  part  of  it  de- 
voted to  collective  games — in  writing.  I  saw 
another  group  so  interested  one  day  in  the 
study  of  design  that  all  their  work  had  that 
[170] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

idea  for  a  focus.  Here  the  art  of  the  teacher 
was  brought  into  play  when  by  tactful  sug- 
gestion the  children  were  led  to  other  fields 
of  activity.  This  simple,  intensive,  self- 
directed,  spontaneous  activity  of  the  pupil 
affords  the  teacher  ample  time  for  methodical 
observation  of  this  expression  of  liberty;  and 
for  careful  records  of  those  observations. 
The  teacher  must  be  competent  through 
nature  and  training  to  assume  the  role  of 
respectful  observer  of  an  active  individual 
who,  especially  in  very  early  years,  must 
have  perfect  freedom,  and  she  must  therefore 
carefully  refrain  from  imposing  arbitrary 
tasks. 

Those  stages  in  the  progress  of  a  child 
which  we  have  tried  to  distinguish  in  the 
three  chapters  on  motor,  sensory,  and 
ideo  education  stand  in  a  very  definite  re- 
lation to  the  teacher  but  in  differing  ways. 
The  first  period,  that  in  which  the  child 
becomes  accustomed  to  the  liberty  of  a 
Montessori  schoolroom,  is  perhaps  one  to 
test  to  the  utmost  the  ability  of  the  teacher 
and  one  in  which  she  will  probably  feel 
the  greatest  discouragement.  For  she  must 
have  a  strong  grasp  of  the  spirit  of  the 
method,  tact  and  wisdom  to  refrain  from 
[171] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

checking  any  spontaneous  manifestations  of 
the  child's  individuality  and  equal  wisdom 
in  checking  vicious  or  dangerous  impulses. 
I  found  the  greatest  contrasts  at  just  these 
points.  The  failures  were  teachers  who 
could  not  balance  expression  and  repres- 
sion or  suppression,  who  could  not  distinguish 
between  orderly  disorder  and  purposeless 
confusion,  who  did  not  know  when  to 
act  and  when  to  refrain.  The  successful 
teachers,  and  they  were  in  the  majority,  I 
am  glad  to  say,  had  poise,  loving  insight, 
power  to  keep  themselves  in  the  back- 
ground, together  with  a  strong  persuasive  in- 
fluence that  guided  or  suppressed  without 
compulsion. 

The  second  step  in  the  child's  education, 
that  of  refining  and  perfecting  the  senses 
so  as  to  prepare  him  for  the  higher  life  of 
perception  and  of  thinking,  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  largely  auto-educative.  The  teacher's 
place  at  first,  as  has  been  so  often  stated,  is 
purely  secondary  and  passive.  She  must 
resist  her  desire  to  correct  the  child's 
blunders  and  to  aid  his  progress.  This  is 
the  period  when  her  observation  of  the  child 
should  be  constant,  sympathetic  and  inter- 
pretive, but  not  preventive.  As  the  child 
[172] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

uses  one  piece  of  the  material  after  another 
and  by  means  of  it  refines  his  perceptions 
and  his  power  of  discrimination  the  teacher 
must  be  content  simply  to  watch  the  child 
use  the  material  and  observe  and  record  its 
effects  upon  him.  Then  as  the  three  periods 
are  followed  the  guidance  of  the  teacher 
becomes  more  direct  and  her  method  in- 
cludes experiment  with  observation.  That 
is,  the  teacher  uses  the  didactic  material 
with  which  to  make  an  experiment  and 
then  awaits  and  notes  the  child's  response 
in  the  same  way  that  a  chemist  performs 
an  experiment,  awaits  the  reaction  and 
then  records  the  result.  Certain  definite 
ideas  should  animate  the  teacher  in  this 
important  guidance  of  the  child.  She  must 
remember  that  the  effect  should  be  not 
fatigue  but  pleasure;  that  she  must  inter- 
vene to  prevent  fatigue;  that  it  is  her  es- 
pecial function  to  direct  the  child  in  both 
his  physical  and  mental  development.  She 
must  remember  the  value  of  repetition  in 
refining  the  sense  perception;  that  it  is  nec- 
essary sometimes  to  isolate  the  senses  and 
sometimes  to  fuse  them.  For  example,  the 
sense  of  hearing  or  of  touch  becomes  more 
acute  when  the  child  is  blindfolded;  on  the 
[173] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

other  hand  muscular  memory  as  developed 
by  the  fusion  of  the  sensations  of  vision, 
sound  and  touch  renders  intellectual  progress 
much  more  rapid  and  in  fact  explains  the 
" explosion  into  writing"  that  seems  so  re- 
markable. She  should  present  the  material 
with  great  simplicity,  using  as  few  words 
as  possible,  at  first  in  strong  contrast  then 
with  very  slight  variation  of  form,  colour, 
weight  or  size.  Each  of  the  three  periods 
of  Seguin  of  which  so  much  is  being  said, 
has  its  own  definite  value  at  this  stage.  In 
the  first  the  child  learns  to  associate  the 
sense  perception  with  the  name  of  the 
object — "This  is  red."  In  the  second  he 
learns  to  recognise  the  object  as  he  hears 
the  name — ' l  Give  me  the  red. ' '  In  the  third 
and  most  difficult  he  remembers  the  name 
which  corresponds  to  the  object — "What  is 
this?"  "Red."  Here  again  she  must  en- 
force the  principle  of  non-correction,  and 
if  the  child  makes  a  mistake,  she  should 
return  to  the  earlier  periods  and  await  the 
moment  when  he  is  ready  for  the  third  one. 
Perhaps  the  point  at  which  the  influence  of 
the  teacher  becomes  most  effective  is  in  the 
third  great  stage  of  his  development  when 
the  child  passes  from  sensations  to  ideas, 
[174] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

from  perception  to  apperception,  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract,  from  observation 
to  generalisation.  The  problem  now  con- 
fronting her  is  how  she  can  best  guide  the 
child  to  concentrate  on  the  object  just  as 
she  previously  helped  him  to  isolate  his 
senses  in  order  to  perfect  them.  The  solu- 
tion of  this  problem  is  made  easier  by  the 
use  of  the  first  of  the  three  periods  when 
the  child  associates  the  name  with  the 
object,  and  is  led  in  this  way  to  exact  dis- 
crimination in  the  use  of  words.  She  should 
watch  for  the  moment  when  the  child  begins 
by  observation  to  generalise  and  apply  the 
ideas  he  has  received  to  his  surroundings. 
I  have  already  described  this  progress  in  a 
little  boy  as  he  used  the  colour  pencils  and 
by  observation  corrected  his  first  crude 
ideas.  I  saw  another  child  draw  a  rude 
figure  of  a  man  with  simple  straight  lines 
for  legs  and  arms.  A  fellow  pupil  in  passing 
added  five  strokes  at  the  end  of  each  line  to 
indicate  the  fingers  and  toes,  showing  that 
he  had  observed  more  than  the  first  child. 

I  was  interested  in  contrasting  two  les- 
sons on  the  subject  of  colour  which  I  ob- 
served; the  first  in  a  kindergarten  in  Rome, 
the  second  in  one  of  the  best  of  the  Mon- 
[175] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

tessori  schools.  In  the  first  school  the 
teacher  stood  in  front  of  fifty  children 
each  of  whom  had  on  the  desk  in  front  of 
him  red,  blue  and  green  balls  of  wool. 
She  first  destroyed  the  unity  of  her  lesson 
and  confused  the  children  by  pointing  to  a 
chart  behind  her  on  which  sheep  were 
painted,  telling  them  their  balls  were  made 
of  such  wool.  Then  she  told  each  child 
to  dangle  his  ball  by  the  string  attached 
to  it,  thus  giving  him  the  idea  of  a  bell. 
She  next  took  three  tumblers  of  water 
each  of  which  held  one  of  the  primary 
colours  and  by  mixing  them  together  pro- 
duced the  secondary  colours,  the  names 
of  which  she  taught  the  children.  This 
was  an  example  of  too  much  teaching  with 
the  effect  of  hampering  instead  of  aiding  the 
child's  power  to  make  general  use  of  special 
sense  training.  The  other  lesson  was  also 
what  the  Montessori  teacher  who  gave  it 
wrould  call  a  collective  one.  She  had 
brought  in  with  her  some  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  leaves  just  changing  into  their 
autumn  hues  and  placed  them  on  her  desk 
with  no  remarks.  Some  children,  attracted 
by  the  novelty,  attempted  to  sketch  them 
with  their  coloured  pencils  or  in  water-colours. 
[176] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

Those  children  whose  sense  of  colour  was 
well  developed  reproduced  the  tints  almost 
perfectly,  others  with  various  degrees  of  cru- 
dity; but  all  worked  spontaneously.  The 
art  of  this  particular  teacher  was  shown 
in  her  ability  to  intervene  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree  as  the  child  needed  much  or 
little  help.  In  other  words,  the  teacher 
can  so  direct  the  efforts  of  the  child  that  he 
gains  quickly  a  sense  of  power  and  ease 
rather  than  of  failure  and  discourage- 
ment. 

That  the  child's  love  of  knowledge  is 
instinctive  is  demonstrated  by  the  ques- 
tions which  are  so  characteristic  of  him. 
We  can  help  him  to  gain  the  knowledge 
that  he  seeks  by  telling  him  simply  and 
clearly  the  names  and  attributes  of  the 
things  that  make  up  his  environment.  In 
this  way  he  will  by  a  slow  yet  certain  process 
gain  abstract  ideas  of  form,  colour,  tempera- 
ture or  size,  which  he  will  soon  apply 
properly. 

In  the  period  when  the  child  passes  from 
drawing  to  writing  and  reading,  from  the 
early  use  of  the  Long  Stair  as  a  sense  exercise 
to  its  subsequent  use  as  a  medium  for 
number  teaching,  the  relation  of  the  teacher 
[177] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

to  her  pupil  becomes  still  closer.  She 
assists  the  child  in  all  those  exercises  with 
pencil  or  finger  by  means  of  which  he  ac- 
quires the  technique  of  writing.  She  stimu- 
lates his  desire  to  read  by  giving,  through 
the  medium  of  a  game,  simple  phrases  or 
written  commands  which  he  can  obey;  and 
in  thus  learning  to  read  first  for  nomen- 
clature and  not  for  the  expression  of  logical 
thought,  he  acquires  the  needed  skill.  He 
is  then  ready  for  that  higher  process  of 
interpreting  ideas  from  written  signs,  which 
is  what  is  really  meant  by  reading.  The 
teacher  must  observe  the  child  to  ascertain 
when  the  idea  of  reading  as  a  logical  lan- 
guage dawns  upon  him,  and  in  that  instant 
he  is  ready  for  the  practise  in  composition 
which  should  precede  logical  reading.  In 
anticipation  of  this  moment  she  will  have 
prepared  a  number  of  long  sentences  written 
on  cards  or  on  the  board  with  which  to 
attract  his  attention.  As  he  reads  them  in 
silence  and  follows  the  thoughts  they  con- 
tain, the  idea  is  brought  home  to  him  that 
written  language  is  another  medium  of 
expression,  and  he  will  delightedly  resort 
to  the  use  of  this  new  method. 

Such  a  relation  between  the  teacher  and 
[178] 


THE  MONTESSORI  TEACHER 

her  pupils  and  such  a  conception  of  her 
office  as  one  of  observation,  stimulation 
and  experiment  as  I  have  tried  to  portray, 
cannot  be  realised  without  thorough  prepara- 
tion and  training.  In  addition  to  psycho- 
logical, biological  and  anthropological  studies 
she  should  have  very  thorough  courses  in 
the  use  of  the  material  as  a  means  for  train- 
ing the  senses,  especially  that  of  touch. 
Theory  in  the  shape  of  educational  psychol- 
ogy and  practice  in  the  application  of  this 
theory  by  means  of  the  material  are  two 
essential  factors  in  a  teacher's  preparation 
if  she  is  to  make  clear  to  herself  the  purpose. 
A  Montessori  teacher  who  has  had  the 
usual  kindergarten  or  normal  school  train- 
ing will  have  to  unlearn  much  that  has 
seemed  vital  in  the  other  systems.  For 
this  reason  she  should  have  opportunity  for 
observation  of  a  Montessori  teacher  and 
practise  in  a  Montessori  school.  If  her 
ideal  is  that  "wise  passivity"  spoken  of  by 
Wordsworth,  if  brevity  instead  of  fluency, 
restraint  instead  of  action,  suggestion  in- 
stead of  dictation  are  to  be  her  watchwords, 
she  will  need  to  make  herself  over — not  an 
easy  task  and  not  to  be  accomplished  with- 
out much  trying  of  soul.  But  the  reward 
[179] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

is  great — the  joy  of  seeing,,  as  a  result,  the 
unfolding  of  a  human  life,  a  joy  in  which 
the  parent  and  teacher,  working  in  harmo- 
nious co-operation,  each  has  a  share. 


[180] 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  MONTESSORI  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS 
CRITICS 

"An  elementary  school  loyal  to  the  principles  of  re- 
spect for  the  freedom  of  the  child  in  its  spontaneous 
manifestation." 

SINCE  my  return  from  Italy  I  have  marked 
a  significant  change  in  the  nature  of  the 
interest  aroused  in  Dr.  Montessori  and  her 
theories — a  change  so  significant  that  we 
may  well  choose  as  the  subject  of  this  chap- 
ter, the  Montessori  Movement,  its  growth, 
its  characteristics,  the  criticisms  it  has  re- 
ceived, and  its  probable  effect  on  the 
school  systems  of  England  and  the  United 
States.  * 

The  cause  of  this  interest  has  curiously 
reversed  the  usual  order.  Under  ordinary 
circumstances  a  new  movement  in  educa- 
tion or  a  new  discovery  in  science  finds  its 
way  into  the  popular  press  long  after  it  has 
been  discussed  in  academic  or  scientific 
circles.  In  the  case  of  Dr.  Montessori 
and  her  system,  whatever  may  be  true  in 
[1811 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

England,  most  Americans  first  heard  of  her 
through  the  articles  in  a  well-known  maga- 
zine. Those  graphic  accounts  of  early  visits 
to  the  Montessori  schools  in  Rome  aroused 
a  degree  of  popular  interest  and  enthusiam, 
such  as  a  discussion  in  educational  circles 
would  never  have  received.  One  article 
followed  another,  courses  of  lectures  were 
given,  a  school  was  opened  in  the  United 
States,  the  subject  was  discussed  at  kinder- 
garten meetings,  a  translation  in  English 
of  the  " Method"  had  a  large  circulation, 
not  only  in  England  and  America,  but  all  over 
the  world,  and  finally  trained  observers 
were  sent  to  Rome  as  official  representatives 
of  educational  institutions. 

In  the  meantime  we  have  entered  upon  the 
second  phase  of  this  movement.  The  first 
was  that  of  the  heralds;  the  spies  went  into 
the  land  of  Canaan  and  brought  back  very 
large  bunches  of  grapes.  The  stories  of  the 
miracles,  of  the  wonders  seen,  aroused  tre- 
mendous interest,  and  there  was  great 
danger  that  the  ancient  national  experience 
would  once  more  be  repeated  of  a  wild 
enthusiasm  and  a  fickle  public  leading  to  a 
senseless  reaction.  The  second  phase,  for- 
tunately, has  been  that  of  the  trained  inves- 
[182] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

tigators  who  have  visited  the  Italian  schools 
in  sufficient  numbers  to  create  a  body  of 
intelligent  exponents  and  critics  of  the  Mon- 
tessori  theories  and  methods  as  they  are 
found  there.  The  third  phase  will  come  as 
the  teachers  return  to  England  and  America 
from  courses  with  Dr.  Montessori,  prepared 
to  teach  according  to  her  training  and  by 
her  authority.  The  fourth  phase  should  be 
that  of  experiment  by  these  teachers  with 
possible  adaptation  and  amplification;  a 
phase  made  necessary  on  account  of  the 
temperament  and  environment  of  the  Ameri- 
can and  English  child,  so  different  from  that 
of  the  Italian.  It  is  a  phase  with  which,  I 
believe,  Dr.  Montessori  will  be  in  entire 
sympathy,  for  she  is  so  thorough  a  believer 
in  a  positive  pedagogy  for  the  future,  based 
on  observation  and  experiment  that  she  will 
herself  be  one  of  the  first  to  make  such 
changes  and  amplification  as  further  experi- 
ence proves  necessary. 

While  we  await  the  third  and  fourth 
stages  of  this  movement  in  America,  let  us 
examine  as  carefully  and  impartially  as 
possible  the  discussion  that  has  followed  the 
return  of  so  many  professional  investigators. 
These  discussions  may  be  grouped  for  our 
[183] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

purpose  under  two  heads:  first,  those  that 
consider  the  movement  as  affecting  our 
kindergartens  as  they  are  at  present  estab- 
lished in  the  United  States;  and,  second, 
those  that  criticise  the  system  in  view  of  the 
advance  in  educational  theory  and  practice 
in  this  country,  and  also  in  its  relation 
to  modern  pedagogical  and  psychological 
beliefs. 

The  kindergarten,  in  spite  of  much  severe 
criticism  in  recent  years,  is  strongly  en- 
trenched in  our  educational  system.  It  is 
perhaps  better  organized  than  any  other 
department  of  our  schools,  and  although  its 
adherents  may  be  grouped  under  two  classes, 
the  conservatives  and  the  progressives,  there 
is  a  strong  bond  uniting  them — loyalty  to  a 
common  principle.  The  leaders  in  kinder- 
garten circles  were  inclined  at  first  to  view 
with  alarm  the  wide-spread  attention  given 
to  the  Montessori  system,  and  to  set  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  it.  But  the  sober 
second  thought  of  those  who  were  fair 
minded  and  receptive,  recognised  the  fact 
that  in  the  evolution  of  educational  princi- 
ples, another  great  era  had  been  arrived  at 
which  should  not  be  dismissed  with  contempt 
or  belittled  by  sarcasm,  but  studied  most 
[184] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

conscientiously  and  intelligently.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  fairer  attitude  of  mind  shown 
by  influential  leaders,  kindergartners  all  over 
the  country  have  read  Dr.  Montessori's 
book,  attended  lectures,  made  her  theories 
a  subject  for  discussion,  and  in  addition  to 
this  have  heard  the  reports  of  those  of  their 
number  who  have  visited  Rome  for  first- 
hand knowledge.  As  many  kindergartners 
are  enrolled  among  those  to  take  the  training 
course  in  the  winter  of  1913  in  Rome,  the 
mooted  question  of  substitution  of  one 
system  for  the  other,  or  of  modification  of 
each  by  the  other,  should  be  held  in  abeyance 
until  a  number  of  schools  under  trained 
Montessori  teachers  have  been  opened  as 
experiment  stations,  where  those  modifi- 
cations and  adaptations  which  wisdom  and 
experience  will  find  expedient,  may  be 
slowly  and  harmoniously  tested.  By  fol- 
lowing out  this  plan  a  sense  of  security  and 
belief  will  arise  that  can,  in  my  opinion,  be 
inspired  in  no  other  way. 

Such  discussions  as  I  have  outlined  above 
have  been  entirely  practical;  those  that 
involve  a  criticism  of  the  system  on  peda- 
gogical and  psychological  grounds,  while 
more  theoretical,  are  none  the  less  important, 
[185] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

and  the  method  should  be  weighed  most 
carefully  and  tested  most  thoroughly  in 
view  of  these  criticisms. 

Because  of  two  prominent  characteristics 
of  the  method — the  importance  given  to 
the  individual  and  the  stress  laid  on  sense 
training — the  assertion  is  made  that  Dr. 
Montessori  is  to  be  classed  with  Rousseau 
and  Pestalozzi  and  is  therefore  out  of  date. 
Because  of  her  cardinal  principle  of  setting 
free  the  personality  of  each  child  through 
auto-education,  some  fear  that  she  is  opposed 
to  the  Herbartian  doctrine  of  apperception 
which  is  so  widely  accepted  at  the  present 
time.  Because  of  the  formal,  scientifically 
exact  nature  of  much  of  the  material  used 
for  the  training  in  sense  perception  many 
think  the  purpose  to  be  formal  discipline, 
an  idea  opposed  to  modern  psychological 
beliefs.  Again,  on  account  of  the  didactic 
nature  of  the  material  they  feel  that  the 
quality  of  freedom  is  strained,  and  that  there 
is  no  real  liberty,  and  little  opportunity  for 
initiative  or  creative,  imaginative  expression. 

Let  us  take  up  each  of  these  points  in 

turn:  that  the  system  is  old-fashioned  and 

in  the  class  with  Rousseau  and  Pestalozzi; 

that  it  is  opposed  to  the  Herbartian  doctrine 

[186] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

of  apperception;  that  it  trains  for  formal 
discipline — a  theory  discarded  by  modern 
psychologists;  and  that  the  liberty  of  the 
child  is  restricted  and  no  opportunity  given 
him  for  creative,  constructive  or  imaginative 
expression,  and  see  if  they  are  well  taken. 

If  the  evolutionary  doctrine  holds  in 
education  as  elsewhere,  we  expect  to  find 
the  present  expanding  from  the  past,  and 
should  study/Dr.  Montessori  as  the  latest  in 
a  long  line  of  thinkers  and  find  in  her  the 
influences  of  her  great  predecessors.  A 
creative  genius  does  not  create  the  materials 
with  which  he  works,  but  out  of  old  parts 
evolves  a  new  whole  which  is  his  original 
contribution,  his  gift  to  the  world./  A 
creative  genius  hammers  the  dead  iron  of 
the  past  on  the  anvil  of  present  experience 
in  the  fire  of  a  living  enthusiasm  and  so 
forges  a  new  implement  for  the  future  to 
wield.  \In  such  a  system  as  Dr.  Montessori's, 
therefore,  we  find  elements  derived  from 
previous  philosophies  of  education  com- 
bined with  a  unique  contribution  which 
marks  its  advance  over  them.  'There  is  an 
apostolic  succession  in  education  as  in  the- 
ology, a  laying  on  of  hands  as  the  spark  is 
handed  down  to  succeeding  generations — 
[187] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

"I  am  the  owner  of  the  sphere 
Of  the  seven  stars  and  the  solar  year, 
Of  Caesar's  hand  and  Plato's  brain, 
Of  the  Lord   Christ's  heart  and  Shake- 
speare's strain." 
. 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  then,  to  discover 
in  the  philosophy  underlying  Dr.  Montes- 
sori's  theories  and  practice  many  ideas  from 
the  past  which  have  stood  the  test  of  time 
and  have  survived  because  of  it,  and  should 
not  feel  that  the  presence  of  such  influences 
means  reversion  instead  of  progress.  They 
survive,  shorn  of  all  that  was  temporary,  and 
unite  with  other  elements  of  that  universal 
and  permanent  Truth  towards  which  we 
aspire. 

We  find  either  expressed  or  implied  in  the 
Montessori  theory  of  education  Rousseau's 
belief  in  individual  training  without  the  ex- 
treme isolation  suggested  by  "Emile"  or 
that  complete  return  to  nature  as  a  teacher 
which  he  advocated.  In  it  is  the  unifying 
principle  of  Froebel  and  his  theory  of  self- 
activity  freed  from  his  symbolism  and  erro- 
neous ideas  of  geometric  analysis;  the  sense 
training  of  Pestalozzi  as  a  basis  for  higher 
thought  processes  and  not  for  formal  dis- 
cipline; the  apperceptive  ideas  of  Herbart 
[188] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

combined  with  the  doctrine  of  effort;  the 
Bergsonian  belief  in  intuition;  the  Fichtian 
conception  of  will ;  and  the  Emersonian  idea 
of  freedom  limited  by  law.  Because  all  these 
ideas  have  stood  the  test  of  her  long  years 
of  experience  in  her  vision  of  truth  she  is  a 
pragmatist  as  well  as  an  idealist.  She 
hitches  her  wagon  to  a  star,  her  conception 
of  truth  has  grown  out  of  a  practical  applica- 
tion of  theory  to  life. 

We  may  perhaps  understand  more  clearly 
the  nature  of  Montessori's  original  contri- 
bution to  the  evolution  of  an  educational 
system  if  we  now  compare  her  with  her 
great  predecessor  Froebel. . 

Froebel  and  Montessori  especially  lend 
themselves  to  a  comparative  study  because 
both  had  genius  of  the  creative,  intuitive 
order;  both  could  rationalise  a  system  and 
both  could  devise  the  practical  materials  and 
methods  in  which  to  embody  it.  They 
differed  in  preparation,  in  point  of  view,  in 
emphasis,  and  in  method  of  approach  as 
well  as  in  the  concrete  form  in  which  they 
clothed  their  theories.  Let  us  take  these 
two  great  geniuses  in  turn  in  relation  to  each 
of  these  points. 

Froebel  lived  in  Germany  during  a  period 
[189] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  philosophical  thought.  Metaphysics  was 
in  the  very  air  he  breathed.  Of  scientific 
training,  as  the  twentieth  century  under- 
stands it,  he  had  little.  He  lived  in  a  retired 
German  village  the  simple  life  of  its  school- 
master. He  saw  deeply  into  the  heart  of  a 
child.  He  intuitively  understood  its  need 
for  self-activity,  and  realised  the  value  of 
play.  He  awakened  the  mothers,  just  as 
Rousseau  had  before  him,  to  a  sense  of  their 
rights,  privileges,  and  duties;  but  lacking  a 
scientific  training,  a  knowledge  of  child- 
psychology,  and  of  biology,  his  preparation 
and  experience  led  him  to  take  a  philosoph- 
ical rather  than  a  biological  point  of  view. 
He  had  the  philosopher's  vision  of  the 
Universe  into  which  the  child  was  to  be 
introduced.  He  saw  or  thought  he  saw 
fundamental  laws  of  unity  with  which  the 
child  must  come  into  harmony.  His  deeply 
religious  nature  dwelt  on  spiritual  abstrac- 
tions until  they  seemed  inherent  in  all  mate- 
rial manifestations.  This  point  of  view  ne- 
cessitated a  peculiar  emphasis  which  affected 
both  his  choice  and  presentation  of  material. 
Philosophical  laws  guided  his  selection; 
abstract  ideas  decided  the  order  of  presenta- 
tion. To  his  mind,  largely  that  of  the  mys- 
[190] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

tic,  truth  appeared  in  the  guise  of  symbol, 
the  outer  form  of  which  must  typify 
the  inner  spirit.  For  that  reason  Froebel's 
method  of  approach  was  centripetal  rather 
than  centrifugal.  He  said,  it  is  true,  "let 
us  live  with  our  children,"  but  his  purpose 
was  to  lead  them  into  the  Universe  which  he 
viewed  so  philosophically  and  so  mystically. 
As  a  consequence  his  disciples  have  for  years 
followed  a  method  of  presentation  which 
seemed  best  for  the  abstract  child.  Go  into 
almost  any  class-room  for  a  day's  visit,  and 
if  its  teacher  is  not  heterodox  you  will  find 
a  unified  order  for  the  day  in  which  every- 
thing is  related  from  the  morning  circle  to 
the  final  good-bye  song.  Go  into  any 
kindergarten  in  any  city  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  and  you  will  find  the  same  subject, 
the  "Knight."  Some  years  ago  a  young  and 
enthusiastic  kindergartner  had  for  several 
days  imbued,  as  she  supposed,  the  souls  of 
the  little  ones  under  her  charge  with  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  truth,  through  the 
cumulative  effect  of  stories,  pictures,  and 
games  about  the  knight,  until,  thinking  it 
time  to  give  a  concrete  exercise,  she  told 
them  to  make  a  knight  in  clay.  She  left 
the  room  for  a  moment  for  a  brief  confer- 

[  191 1 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

ence  with  her  principal.  Suddenly  one  of 
the  little  tots  ran  into  the  principal's  office, 
climbed  into  her  teacher's  lap,  threw  her 
arms  around  her  neck  and  whispered,  "I 
can't  make  a  knight;  mayn't  I  make  a 
scare-crow?"  I  found  in  the  Montessori 
teacher  rebellion  against  such  an  indirect 
approach  to  truth  by  way  of  symbol  as  the 
Froebelians  have  been  trained  to  take,  and 
this  incident  illustrates,  and  a  hearty  en- 
dorsement of  Dr.  Montessori' s  pragmatic, 
direct  approach.  It  is  perfectly  true  that 
Froebel  was  the  first  to  expound  the  doctrine 
of  self-activity  and  to  seize  upon  children's 
play  as  a  means  of  outlet  for  that  activity. 
But  he  could  not  appreciate  the  biological 
reasons  for  both,  or  their  true  significance  as 
factors  in  the  child's  physical  and  mental 
growth.  He  therefore  limited  self-activity 
and  modified  the  play  impulse  by  making 
them  conform  to  his  philosophical  theories 
as  embodied  in  his  systematically  conceived 
series  of  gifts  and  occupations.  He  believed 
in  child-study  but  it  was  an  abstraction  he 
had  in  mind,  not  a  living,  breathing,  human 
individual  in  embryo.  Hence  the  emphasis 
given  to  the  group  rather  than  to  the  indi- 
vidual, to  the  social  rather  than  to  the  biolog- 
[192] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

ical  function  of  education.  "The  morning 
circle/'  the  group  games,  the  table  planned 
for  a  number  of  children  in  the  gift  work  or 
the  occupations — all  serve  as  illustrations. 
The  place  of  the  teacher  in  this  system  also 
shows  the  limited  conception  its  founder 
had  of  the  doctrine  of  freedom  and  self- 
activity.  Her  training,  careful  and  thorough 
though  undoubtedly  it  is,  emphasises  philo- 
sophical abstractions,  symbolic  presentations 
more  than  scientific  observation  of  the  indi- 
vidual child.  In  too  many  kindergarten 
training  schools  teachers  learn  the  use  of  the 
gifts  and  the  occupations  and  the  best  way 
to  play  the  games  by  practising  with  each 
other  rather  than  with  children.  The  ma- 
terial is  also  used,  at  first  at  least,  by  groups 
of  teachers  instead  of  by  the  children  who 
should  be  observed  by  the  teacher. 

Let  us  now  make  a  similar  study  of  Dr. 
Montessori.  Her  preparation  has  been  dwelt 
upon  elsewhere,  so  for  our  present  needs  a 
brief  review  will  suffice.  A  young  doctor 
of  medicine,  her  first  clinical  experience  was 
with  children.  Interested  at  first  in  the 
problem  of  the  deficient  child,  she  became 
a  student  and  then  a  lecturer  on  anthro- 
pology in  its  relation  to  pedagogy.  Years 
[193] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  successful  experience  with  mentally  de- 
fective children  led  her  to  the  conviction 
that  the  normal  child  was  sadly  hampered 
by  unscientific  and  unpedagogical  methods. 
Years  of  successful  application  of  her 
methods  to  normal  children  place  her  in 
the  ranks  of  the  educator  rather  than  the 
theorist. 

If  FroebePs  point  of  view  represents  the 
metaphysical  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  Montessori's  is  that  of  the  scientific 
idealism  of  the  twentieth.  Froebel  looks 
for  the  generic  in  the  individual;  Montessori 
looks  to  each  individual  in  his  spontaneous 
development  to  be  a  step  to  the  higher  de- 
velopment of  the  race.  She  has  the  same 
reverent  belief  in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  child; 
and  her  goal,  its  complete  development,  is  the 
same;  but  her  thoroughly  scientific  prepara- 
tion has  proved  to  her  that  the  flowering  of 
that  spirituality  follows  natural  laws.  She 
sees  in  the  baby  an  undeveloped  human 
being  with  infinite  possibilities,  which  can  be 
fulfilled  only  by  the  liberation  of  his  person- 
ality and  by  conquest  of  the  limitations  of 
heredity  and  environment.  Again,  her  point 
of  view  is  that  of  the  individual  child,  not 
an  abstract  conception  of  childhood.  Such 
[194] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

contrasted  points  of  observation  are  log- 
ically followed  by  as  differing  an  emphasis. 
Where  Froebel  was  primarily  general  and 
symbolic,  Montessori  is  chiefly  concrete  and 
practical.  This  has  led  to  the  hasty  judg- 
ment that  she  is  materialistic,  that  her 
method  lacks  spirituality,  and  that  no  appeal 
is  made  to  the  imagination  or  creative  powers 
of  children.  The  same  criticism  is  laid  upon 
the  century  in  which  she  lives  as  contrasted 
with  the  one  which  gave  birth  to  Froebel, 
with  as  little  justice.  To  see  life  as  it  is — as 
an  evolutionary  process — need  not  imply  a 
materialistic  tendency.  In  fact  such  a  posi- 
tion need  not  make  one  less,  but  rather  more 
truly,  spiritually  minded.  Montessori  has 
herself  noted  this  inter-relation  of  science 
and  idealism,  the  fact  that  practical  science 
and  spiritual  idealism  keep  pace  with  each 
other.  Her  philosophy  combines  a  biolog- 
ical method  with  a  philosophical  ground- 
work. 

If  FroebePs  method  of  approach  was 
largely  centripetal,  working  toward  the  child, 
that  of  Montessori  on  the  contrary  is  cen- 
trifugal, out  from  the  child.  Her  purpose  is 
to  liberate  the  life  force  within  the  child  so 
that  he  can  conquer  his  environment.  She 
[195] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

thinks  of  each  child  as  a  living,  biological 
manifestation  to  be  separately  guided  and 
studied.  She  puts  the  child  first,  the  group 
second.  Her  problem  is  the  individual 
child  considered  biologically  and  socially. 

As  to  the  concrete  embodiment  of  her 
theories  in  her  didactic  material  little  re- 
mains to  be  said  after  the  study  that  has 
already  been  made  except  for  the  purpose  of 
contrast  or  comparison.  I  believe  it  to  be 
more  practical,  more  suited  to  the  auto- 
education  of  the  child,  more  progressive  and 
more  complete  as  a  means  of  sensory 
training.  Dr.  Montessori  would  retain 
FroebePs  cubes  and  bricks,  the  clay  model- 
ling and  some  of  the  games.  I  see  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  keep  the  morning 
circle  in  a  modified  form  and  the  story- 
telling if  it  is  not  forced. 

The  material  is  more  practical  because  it 
relates  directly  to  the  life  of  the  child  and 
aids  in  making  him  independent.  It  is 
more  auto-educative  because  it  controls  the 
error  and  the  child,  in  the  beginning  at  least, 
needs  little  help  from  the  teacher.  It  is 
progressive  as  it  leads  the  child  by  a  series  of 
logical  steps  from  sensations  to  ideas,  from 
the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  from  simple 
[196] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

muscular  co-ordination  to  acts  involving 
much  intelligence  and  thought.  By  it  all 
the  senses  are  trained,  especially  that  of 
touch,  but  the  aim  of  this  training  is  not  to 
perfect  the  senses  but  to  lead  the  child  by 
full  sensory  life  to  perception  and  concep- 
tion. Critics  of  the  method  fail,  I  think,  to 
see  that  the  purpose  is  for  general  sense  im- 
pression rather  than  formal  discipline.  For 
this  reason  it  differs  from  the  sense  training 
of  Pestalozzi  which  had  such  a  vogue  many 
years  ago.  A  wealth  of  sense  impression 
is  needed  as  the  child's  higher  consciousness 
develops,  or  his  brain  cells  will  not  function 
or  his  motor-activity  be  co-ordinated. 

Sense  training  as  Montessori  understands 
it  has  for  its  aim  the  development  of  keen 
perceptions  which  in  their  turn  will  pro- 
voke observation,  association  and  general- 
isation. The  biological  effect  of  this  sensory 
training  is  in  the  developing  of  the  associa- 
tion centers  in  the  cortex  of  the  brain  and 
of  the  nerve  fibers  connecting  them;  and 
the  psychological  effect  in  the  change  from 
the  instinctive,  impulsive  life  of  element- 
ary consciousness  to  the  higher  conceptual 
and  voluntary  life  of  the  fully  developed 
mentality. 

[197] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

Critics  also  complain  of  a  poverty  of 
material  in  this  method.  There  are  three 
answers  to  this,  I  think.  In  the  first  place, 
Montessori  herself  considers  the  material  a 
necessary  minimum  only,  and  would  wel- 
come, I  believe,  such  enrichment  of  it  as  our 
experience  will  prove  wise  for  the  American 
child  who  has  much  more  initiative  than  the 
Italian.  In  the  second  place,  as  it  is  used 
spontaneously  by  an  interested  child,  his 
awakening  intelligence  finds  all  sorts  of 
original  ways  of  using  the  material  where 
a  more  sophisticated  teacher  would  fail. 
Again  the  material  as  it  is  sold  in  this 
country  gives  no  hint  of  the  opportunity 
for  free  play,  of  free  design  and  of  manual 
and  nature  work  that  the  system  provides 
for. 

A  final  comparison  between  this  material 
and  that  of  Froebel  should  be  made  as  to  its 
effect  on  character.  The  two  great  thinkers 
are  alike  in  the  paramount  place  they  give 
to  character  building  but  they  differ  in  the 
means  for  acquiring  it.  Here  again,  it  seems 
to  me,  Montessori  is  true  to  modern  psychol- 
ogy in  the  importance  given  in  her  system 
to  the  development  of  the  will  through 
choice,  through  desire,  and  through  effort. 
[198] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

She  does  not  think  of  the  will  as  a  separate 
faculty  to  be  trained  but  as  the  flowering 
of  the  whole  personality,  the  whole  mind 
active.  Her  aim  from  the  beginning  is 
to  lead  the  child  to  distinguish  between 
right  and  wrong,  good  and  evil,  and  spon- 
taneously to  desire  and  choose  the  right 
action.  Liberty  for  her  means  liberty 
through  law;  obedience  involves  discipline; 
independence  is  gained  only  by  means  of 
inhibition;  true  freedom  through  complete 
realisation  of  self.  A  complete  understand- 
ing of  this  principle  will  confute  the  criticism 
that  her  idea  of  liberty  is  partial  and 
restrained.  The  children  I  saw  in  Rome 
had  gained  in  self-control,  self-criticism, 
power  of  sustained  effort,  voluntary  obedi- 
ence and  joy  in  work. 

What  modifications  and  changes  in  the 
elementary  school  may  be  expected  if  Dr. 
Montessori's  controlling  ideas  permeate  what 
is  now  the  kindergarten?  These  may  be 
grouped  under  four  heads:  First,  those 
that  will  more  closely  relate  this  period  to 
the  elementary  school;  second,  those  that 
will  modify  the  present  course  of  study; 
third,  those  that  will  change  the  relation 
between  teacher  and  pupil;  and,  fourth, 
[199] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

those  that  will  change  the  method  of 
teaching  and  studying.  Let  us  consider 
each  of  these  in  turn. 

The  present  system  of  education,  from 
kindergarten  to  university,  has  been  pro- 
foundly affected  by  the  ideas  of  Froebel  for 
two  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  because  a 
large  proportion  of  the  children  in  the  schools 
pass  from  the  kindergarten  into  the  primary 
grades  with  good  habits  formed  and  much 
preparatory  training  already  accomplished, 
and  also  because  kindergarten  principles 
have  been  applied  in  all  the  grades.  It  is 
only  fair  to  suppose  that  in  the  same  way 
the  children  who  will  enter  our  schools  after 
having  received  the  Montessori  training, 
will  of  necessity  radically  change  the  present 
system.  The  first  effect,  that  of  a  closer, 
more  vital  connection  between  the  kinder- 
garten and  the  primary  school,  should  be, 
I  trust,  to  break  down  entirely  the  fence 
between  them.  I  should  like  to  see  the 
present  kindergarten  and  the  first  two  years 
of  the  elementary  school  merged  into  one. 
I  should  like  to  see  children  pass  through 
this  period  with  varying  rates  of  progress 
according  to  their  individual  capacities, 
interests  and  temperaments.  This  should  be 
[200] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

accomplished  without  undue  forcing  on  the 
one  hand  or  retardation  on  the  other — the 
Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  school  life.  Some 
children  would  take  three  years,  others  more 
or  less;  but  with  no  definite  " promotion"  at 
the  end  of  each  year,  the  difference  between 
children  would  not  be  so  noticeable.  In  the 
first  period,  which  would  combine  what  is 
now  the  kindergarten  and  the  first  two 
years  of  school,  the  child  should  gain 
freedom,  independence,  obedience,  accurate 
sense  perception,  power  of  discrimination, 
training  in  attention  through  auto-education, 
power  of  observation  and  generalisation, 
and  delight  in  work,  in  the  joy  of  accom- 
plishment. His  energies  should  have  been 
multiplied,  to  use  Dr.  Montessori's  sug- 
gestive phrase.1 

In  addition  he  should  have  the  technique 
of  Vriting,  reading  and  number  and  be  able 
to  make  intelligent  and  interested  use  of  this 
technique.  He  should  be  self-directive,  self- 
active,  with  standards  ingrained  through  the 
development  of  visual  and  motor  memory, 

1  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  read  with  interest  a 
reputed  statement  by  Prof.  Thorndike,  of  Columbia 
University,  who  voices  sentiments  expressed  by  Dr. 
Montessori  in  the  final  chapter  of  her  book.  Both  be- 
lieve that  the  rest  for  a  normal  person  is  in  changing, 
joyous  activity. 

[201] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

obtained  from  the  multiple  stimuli  of  a  full 
sensory  experience. 

Such  a  preliminary  training  should  make 
possible  several  modifications  of  the  present 
course  of  study.  Much  of  the  time  used  in 
drill  could  be  profitably  spent  in  a  richer, 
more  intellectual  way.  If  the  child  has  the 
technique  of  writing  and  of  composition, 
progress  can  be  rapid  in  writing  for  expres- 
sion of  thought.  If  the  technique  of  reading 
has  been  mastered,  much  silent  individual 
reading  for  the  delight  and  knowledge  it 
will  give  can  have  a  place.  If  the  technique 
of  number  and  familiarity  with  the  four 
processes — the  tables  and  so  on — has  been 
gained,  the  way  is  clear  for  problem  work 
involving  simple  geometric  and  algebraic 
ideas.  Geography,  history,  modern  lan- 
guages and  Latin,  if  desired,  can  be  begun 
earlier  and  have  more  time  allotted  to  them 
than  is  now  possible. 

The  relation  between  the  teacher  and  the 
pupils  is  so  radically  different  in  a  Montes- 
sori  school  that  children  living  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  freedom  and  spontaneous  choice 
would  be  stifled  in  an  ordinary  elementary 
school.  The  ideals  already  suggested  must 
be  sought  for.  The  relation  must  be  much 
[202] 


THE  MOVEMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS 

more  personal  than  it  has  ever  been.  The 
pupil  must  be  trusted  more,  left  more  to 
himself.  He  must  have  his  own  standards, 
gained  through  true  liberty  and  obedience, 
standards  higher  than  any  imposed  from 
without. 

All  this  will  lead  to  a  change  in  the  method 
of  teaching.  The  control  of  the  recitation 
will  be  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  class. 
The  test  will  be  not  whether  the  teacher 
has  developed  an  organised,  unified  lesson 
according  to  the  familiar  "five  steps,"  but 
what  each  child  has  brought  to  the  recitation 
and  carried  away  from  it.  The  preparation 
on  the  part  of  the  pupils  if  more  spontaneous 
will  be  more  interested.  Habits  of  attention 
and  effort  formed  early  will  insure  good 
preparation. 

All  this  is,  as  yet,  theoretical  and  has  to 
stand  the  practical  test  of  experience;  and 
may  express  an  ideal  that  is,  as  yet,  far 
beyond  our  grasp.  But  it  is  good  for  us  to 
reach  the  mountain-top  of  vision  and  with 
the  prophets  behold  a  new  earth,  a  glorious 
world  transfigured  by  hope  and  faith  and 
enthusiasm. 


[203] 


CHAPTER  XII 

i 

THE  DEEPER  MESSAGE  OF  MONTESSORI 

"Humanity  growing  in  the  spirit  according  to  its  own 
deep  laws." 

A  PERVASIVE  and  integral  part  of  Dr. 
Montessori's  educational  system  is  found  in 
its  spiritual  and  even  religious  quality,  a 
quality  so  pervasive  and  so  integral  that  it 
seems  difficult  to  treat  of  it  in  a  separate 
chapter.  Yet  because  I  have  seen  with 
solicitude  in  the  numerous  discussions  that 
have  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  interest 
first  aroused  in  the  method,  a  marked  absence 
of  appreciation  of  this  important  feature,  I 
shall  try  to  place  a  greater  emphasis  than 
the  scattered  references  throughout  this  book 
have  given  to  the  essentially  spiritual  or 
religious  nature  of  her  conception  of  educa- 
tion which  embraces  in  its  scope  the  moral 
and  social  regeneration  of  humanity.  Italy 
has  given  to  the  world  one  renaissance,  that 
of  art.  Can  we  now  accept  from  it  through 
this  spiritually-minded  woman  a  second  re- 
naissance, that  of  education?  What  do  we 
[204] 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MONTESSORI 

mean  by  renaissance?  Of  what  is  it  a 
rebirth? 

If  we  analyse  carefully  that  quickening  of 
life  that  came  to  the  dead  medievalism  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  we  shall 
find  in  it  the  following  elements:  a  redis- 
covery of  the  Greek  ideal  of  harmony  be- 
tween the  physical  and  the  mental  or 
spiritual  nature  of  man;  an  affirmation  of  the 
dignity  and  worth  of  each  human  soul;  a 
rebirth  of  freedom  of  thought  and  of  action; 
and  as  an  effect,  a  wonderful  expression 
after  centuries  of  repression,  of  creative 
energy  seen  in  the  efflorescence  in  letters, 
in  art  and  in  life — an  expression  which  in 
both  art  and  letters  had  a  permanent 
because  universal  quality.  Dante,  Michael 
Angelo,  Raphael  and  Shakespeare  "were 
not  of  an  age  but  for  all  time."  Free- 
dom through  abundance  of  life,  freedom  to 
live,  to  create,  to  express  seems  to  be  the 
central  idea  of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 

Let  us  analyse  in  a  similar  way  the  philo- 
sophical ideas  which  give  permanence  and 
universality  to  the  Montessori  Method  and 
make  it  a  real  contribution  because  it  sug- 
gests the  way  to  a  similar  rebirth  in  educa- 
tion. We  recognise  in  Dr.  Montessori  a 
[205] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

dignity  and  repose  which  are  the  outcom'e 
of  serious  thought  and  the  authority  of  one 
who  gives  out  to  the  world  that  which  has 
come  from  a  deep  spiritual  experience.  We 
find  in  her  educational  principles  elements 
of  permanence  and  universality,  because 
they  are  founded  on  the  hidden  laws  of 
humanity  and  can  therefore  be  applied  to 
all  conditions  whether  of  race,  environment, 
or  class.  We  see  in  her  affirmation  of  the 
child's  right  to  liberty  and  to  the  free  ex- 
pression and  consequent  multiplication  of 
his  energies,  a  reverence  for  the  individual 
based  on  a  belief  in  the  innate  goodness  of 
each  soul  which  is  radically  opposed  to  the 
medieval  doctrine  of  sin.  In  her  belief  that 
the  love  of  learning  for  learning's  sake  and 
that  the  religious  sentiment  also  are  instinc- 
tive in  a  child  we  see  a  justification  for  her 
method  which  provides  for  the  education  of 
the  body  and  the  spirit  according  to  the  laws 
of  his  being.  We  find  also  as  a  result  of  this 
doctrine  of  freedom  a  faith  in  the  possi- 
bilities latent  in  each  child  which  by  spon- 
taneous expression  and  wise  direction  may 
lead  to  complete  spiritual  as  well  as  physical 
and  moral  development. 

A  rebirth  or  renaissance  in  education  ought 
[206] 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MONTESSORI 

to  come  as  a  result  of  a  true  scientific  ped- 
agogy founded  on  the  results  of  the  ob- 
servations of  and  experiments  with — by 
teachers  who  are  at  the  same  time  scien- 
tific and  sympathetic — the  spontaneous 
manifestations  of  child  nature  expanding 
in  true  liberty.  This  conception  of  liberty, 
which,  as  I  have  already  sought  to  explain, 
is  so  much  broader  than  any  yet  accepted 
in  our  schools,  includes  liberty  of  the  spirit; 
and  the  observation  of  the  child  under  con- 
ditions of  real  liberty  will  establish  a  true 
pedagogy  blecause  it  is  in  accord  with  the 
laws  of  spiritual  growth.  Education  will 
then  proceed  by  a  natural  method  corre- 
sponding to  the  processes  of  growth  in  the 
child  as  he  passes  through  the  various 
stages  from  the  early  life  of  instinct,  of  sen- 
sation, of  muscular  co-ordination  to  that  of 
fully  developed  consciousness.  It  will  be  a 
method  based  on  a  rational  organisation  for 
each  child  of  his  work  and  of  his  liberty  and 
on  the  deeper  spiritual  laws  including  both 
activity  and  liberty. 

The  results  of  such  a  method  should  be  to 

give  a  new  meaning  to  morality  and  to 

social  conditions.    They  ought  to  prove  that 

moral  training,  now  sadly  lacking  in  many  of 

[207] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

our  schools,  cannot  be  divorced  from  educa- 
tion. Such  moral  training  ought  to  de- 
crease juvenile  delinquency  as  well  as  the 
vice  and  crime  so  prevalent  among  the 
youth  of  great  cities.  Montessori  claims  for 
the  children  in  her  schools  that  "they  have 
set  their  feet  in  the  path  leading  to  right- 
eousness because  it  was  the  only  way  to 
attain  true  self-development  and  learning; 
and  they  enjoy  with  simple  hearts  the  fruits 
of  peace  that  are  to  be  gathered  along  that 
path/'  Self-control,  liberty  through  law, 
poise,  disciplined  activity,  self-reliance,  re- 
spect for  collective  order,  for  the  rights 
of  others,  hospitality,  courtesy,  kindliness, 
these  and  other  moral  qualities  are  to  be 
found,  as  I  have  seen,  in  children  brought 
up  in  the  atmosphere  of  freedom  which  a 
Montessori  school  creates.  These  are  posi- 
tive qualities  coming  from  opportunity  for 
self-expression,  rather  than  negative  ones 
arising  from  that  self-repression  and  ti- 
midity, which,  owing  to  a  false  code  of 
etiquette,  used  to  be  more  than  it  is  now 
the  characteristic  of  school  children  and  has 
not  even  yet  been  fully  eliminated.  The 
moral  instincts  are  watched  for  and  wisely 
directed  into  habits  of  action,  the  spontane- 
[208] 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MONTESSORI 

ous  desires  are  directed  towards  wise  choices, 
the  native  interests  are  encouraged  through 
ample  opportunity  for  expression;  and  so 
character,  which  springs  from  habitual  ac- 
tion, choice  and  interest  united  into  a  " fix- 
ation of  modes  of  willing,"  is  perfected 
simultaneously  with  the  physical  and  intel- 
lectual powers. 

One  element  closely  allied  to  this  moral 
culture,  holding  an  importance  all  its  own, 
is  that  of  aesthetic  training.  As  the  love 
of  beauty  is  deepened  and  power  of  artistic 
expression  increased  from  the  refining  of  the 
senses,  the  child  is  led  not  only  to  observa- 
tion and  appreciation  of  nature  and  of  art 
but  to  creative  and  imaginative  expression. 
This  sense  refinement  opens  to  the  child  a 
new  world  of  beauty  and  gives  him  a  higher 
delight  in  colour,  in  form,  in  motion  and  in 
sound  and  so  prevents  his  finding  pleasure 
in  coarse,  unrefined  appeals  to  untrained 
senses. 

As  to  social  conditions,  Montessori  shows 
herself  a  true  reformer;  her  aim  is  noth- 
ing less  than  human  regeneration  and  her 
method  is  not  iconoclastic  but  constructive. 
She  desires  to  reform  society  and  in  order  to 
accomplish  this  she  would  reconstruct  the 
[209] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

environment  of  the  child  in  the  home  and 
in  the  school;  bring  about  a  closer  co-opera- 
tion between  these  two  factors  in  the  child's 
life,  and  give  a  new  and  higher  meaning  to  a 
home  as  the  dwelling  of  the  family  which  is 
to  further  the  perfection  of  the  species  "and 
to  send  the  race  triumphantly  forward." 
To  this  extent,  then,  she  is  socialistic,  and 
the  full  significance  of  her  method  cannot 
be  appreciated  unless  we  realise  the  possibili- 
ties inherent  in  her  conceptions  of  a  school 
within  the  house,  socialisation  of  the  house, 
and  its  transformation  so  that  many  of  the 
so-called  feminine  duties  are  communised. 
Her  vision  of  the  social  and  economic 
evolution  of  society  has  shown  her  the  neces- 
sity for  a  socialised  home  in  order  that  many 
of  the  problems  arising  during  the  process 
of  this  evolution  may  be  solved.  She  real- 
ises that  the  changes  in  both  social  and 
economic  conditions  have  made  woman's  re- 
lation to  the  home  very  different  from  that 
which  it  was  in  an  earlier  stage  before  the 
complexities  of  modern  life  had  sent  outside 
the  home  many  of  the  activities  which  made 
up  the  life  of  our  grandmothers  and  had  de- 
manded of  the  woman  that  she,  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases,  be  a  wage-earner.  This 
[2101 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  MONTESSORI 

new  equality  of  opportunity,  this  new  duty 
imposed  on  the  majority  of  the  women  of 
to-day,  that  they  actually  contribute  to  the 
support  of  themselves  and  their  families, 
necessitates  that  in  order  to  be  given  time 
and  strength  for  such  work  they  must  be 
released  from  what  used  to  be  considered 
paramount  duties.  A  house  communised, 
with  a  school  within  its  walls  which  will 
take  upon  itself  much  of  the  care  of  the  chil- 
dren of  wage-earners,  will  make  possible  a 
new  happiness,  a  new  repose,  and  a  higher 
union  between  the  father  and  mother  who 
return  to  it  and  to  their  children  after  a  day 
of  toil.  The  modern  conception  of  eugenics 
—the  conscious  betterment  of  the  race — 
may  in  this  way  be  furthered. 

Dr.  Montessori's  ideas  of  social  regenera- 
tion include  as  an  ideal  for  the  school  that 
it  shall  abolish  illiteracy  by  giving  to  chil- 
dren under  seven  the  technique  of  writing, 
reading,  and  number,  so  that  when  they 
arrive  at  the  working  age  instead  of  leaving 
school  with  little  or  no  training,  they  will 
have  mastered  at  least  the  rudiments  of 
education.  She  would  also  prepare  for 
industrial  efficiency  by  helping  each  child  to 
determine  his  vocational  bent  as  the  spon- 
[211] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

taneous  manifestations  of  his  nature  lead  to 
keen  observation  of  his  capacities  by  the 
teacher;  and  as  complete  sense  training 
and  muscular  co-ordination  prepare  him  for 
special  training  later  in  life.  The  higher 
wage  which  would  come  as  a  result  of  this 
efficiency,  would  raise  the  standard  of  living 
of  one  great  division  of  the  social  order,  the 
labouring  class. 

While,  then,  Montessori  would  regenerate 
through  the  home  and  the  school  those 
members  of  society  who  form  the  great 
army  of  wage-earners,  she  does  not  limit 
her  efforts  to  that  class  only.  Her  spiritual 
message  comes  with  equal  force  to  the 
fortunate  ones  of  the  earth,  those  to  whom 
are  given  leisure  with  opportunities  for 
education,  for  altruism.  Her  appeal  to 
them  is  that  they  use  their  leisure,  their 
opportunities,  in  co-operation  with  the 
school  so  that  they  may  unite  with  it  in 
creating  an  environment  and  a  power  of 
direction  which  shall  liberate,  energise  and 
perfect  human  nature. 

Thus  does  Montessori  point  the  way  to  a 

reformation,  the  natural  outcome,  as  history 

proves,  of  a  true  renaissance,   and  this  I 

believe  to  be  her  deeper  message  to  our  age. 

[212] 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 
A  Montessori  Playhouse. 

SCHOOLS  and  teachers,  in  America  at 
least,  even  if  not  to  the  same  extent  in 
England,  are  greatly  hampered  in  their 
work  with  children  by  some  unfortunate 
features  which  are  made  necessary  by  con- 
ditions of  climate  and  habits  of  living. 
Chief  among  these  perhaps  is  the  long  sum- 
mer vacation.  Almost  all  teachers  know 
the  feeling  of  discouragement  that  comes 
to  them  twice  a  year  at  least  (especially  if 
they  are  connected  with  a  private  school), 
in  the  fall  when  the  golden  autumn  days 
tempt  families  to  stay  later  and  later  in 
their  summer  homes  and  again  in  the  spring 
when  the  call  of  the  awakening  year  is 
too  strong  to  be  resisted,  and  when,  long 
before  the  school  term  is  completed,  the 
classes  dwindle  and  the  pupils  melt  away. 
In  view  of  these  conditions,  which  must  be 
frankly  met,  it  should  be  possible  to  make 
some  use  of  the  long  idle  summer  without 
[213] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

in  the  slightest  degree  interfering  with  the 
out-door  life  so  wholesome  for  children.  The 
Montessori  system  of  education  with  its  prin- 
ciples of  liberty,  spontaneity  and  individu- 
ality and  with  the  opportunities  it  furnishes 
for  work  in  the  open  air,  may  be  found  a 
means  of  using  the  summer  time  so  that 
our  children  may  have  healthy  mental  as 
well  as  physical  growth. 

It  may  be  helpful  therefore  to  groups  of 
mothers,  who  for  many  weeks  of  each  year 
settle  down  in  some  quiet  place  in  the 
country  if,  by  way  of  practical  suggestion, 
I  give  my  own  experience,  when  I  gath- 
ered a  group  of  children  about  me  in  what 
they  called  a  " Montessori  Playhouse,"  in 
the  summer  of  1912. 

In  England  where  little  children  are 
taught  in  the  nursery  and  where  country 
seats  are  more  isolated  than  with  us,  the 
conditions  of  the  problem  differ.  With 
the  spread  of  Montessori  ideas  and  with 
the  return  from  Rome  of  trained  directors, 
however,  opportunities  will  arise  for  nursery 
governesses  to  fit  themselves  for  this  work 
in  both  countries. 

"Nancy,"  I  said  one  morning,  "would 
you  like  to  help  me  make  a  Playhouse? 
[214] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

Then  we  can  ask  some  children  to  come 
every  day  and  use  it  with  us." 

Nancy  is  a  little  over  three,  small  for 
her  age,  but  full  of  life  and  vitality.  An 
only  child,  she  and  her  mother  spend  the 
summer  with  her  grandmother,  who  is  our 
next-door  neighbour,  in  a  Long  Island  vil- 
lage near  the  sea. 

The  Playhouse  I  had  in  mind  seemed  to 
me  quite  ideal  as  a  place  in  which  to  make 
the  experiment  I  had  longed  for  ever  since 
I  returned  from  my  study  of  the  Montes- 
sori  methods  in  Rome.  According  to  the 
pleasant  Long  Island  custom  of  planting 
trees  as  boundary  lines,  a  row  of  stately 
oaks  formed  a  beautiful  background  to  the 
little  house,  while  in  front  was  a  windmill, 
an  orchard  and  a  vegetable  garden.  The 
building  itself  was  originally  intended  for 
an  ice  house,  so  was  cool  and  airy,  with 
plenty  of  floor  space.  We  covered  the 
floor  with  canvas  on  which  we  threw  down 
each  morning  a  Navajo  rug.  Chests  around 
the  wall  covered  with  a  Bagdad  curtain 
(for  the  place  had  been  used  as  a  store- 
room) held  the  Montessori  material  very 
nicely,  while  two  bridge  tables  and  some 
empty  boxes  covered  with  felting  served  as 
[215] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

tables  and  seats  for  the  children.  Boughs  of 
pine  and  bunches  of  golden-rod  decorated 
the  walls,  and  some  nails  driven  into  them 
at  the  proper  height  gave  each  child  a  place 
for  his  hat  and  coat.  A  bird-house  which 
the  starlings  had  deserted  the  summer  be- 
fore placed  outside  near  the  door  made  an 
ideal  apartment  house  for  several  families 
of  paper  dolls. 

Nancy  saw  with  delight  the  possibilities 
for  good  times  latent  in  this  simple  place 
and  helped  me  make  it  ready  with  a  woman's 
wit  quite  unexpected  in  a  three-year-old. 
We  decided  on  the  following  children  to 
complete  our  family:  John,  nearly  four, 
who  lived  across  the  way;  Mary,  about 
five,  who  was  visiting  in  the  village;  Caleb, 
another  neighbour;  and  Ira,  the  son  of 
artists  who  made  their  home  not  far  off. 
By  a  curious  instinct,  common  to  boys  and 
dogs,  Billy,  a  son  of  the  farmer  who  took 
care  of  John's  place,  and  Fuji,  our  beautiful 
red  setter,  appeared  the  first  morning  and 
regularly  thereafter. 

Fuji,  with  his  wonderful  sense  of  what  is 

fitting  in  a  well-bred  dog,  never  once  entered 

the  playhouse  itself,  but  established  himself 

in  the  shade  nearby,  ready  to  join  in  the 

[216] 


NANCY'S  IDEAL  HANDS 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

games  outside  when  he  was  useful  as  a 
sheep  or  cow  in  "Little  Boy  Blue"  or  as  "  Old 
Mother  HubbardV  dog.  Billy  announced 
the  first  day  that  he  " helped  Miss  Stevens/7 
and  as  he  was  two  years  older  than  the 
others,  this  attitude  of  mind  enabled  him 
to  use  any  of  the  material  with  no  blow  to 
his  pride. 

The  children  and  their  mothers  accepted 
Nancy's  and  my  invitation  with  alacrity, 
and  half-past  nine  each  morning  found  a 
group  of  children  waiting  for  me  to  appear 
with  the  key. 

At  first  Nancy,  who  sadly  needed  the 
Montessori  training  in  liberty,  would  not 
come  without  her  mother  or  aunty,  who  were 
obliged  to  join  in  the  life  of  the  party,  but 
in  a  few  days  she  took  a  pride  in  coming 
and  going  by  herself  through  the  hedge  and 
across  the  lawn  which  separated  her  home 
from  ours.  She  always  bade  the  playhouse 
" Good-morning "  and  "Good-bye"  as  reg- 
ularly as  she  did  the  children  and  myself. 

Each  child,  after  he  had  hung  up  his 
hat,  parasol  or  coat  on  the  proper  hook, 
helped  to  get  the  playhouse  ready.  Ira 
and  Nancy  took  possession  of  the  two  long- 
handled  hearth  brooms  I  had  provided,  but 
[217] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

John,  real  boy  that  he  is,  seized  upon  the 
"  Little  dirty  broom "  with  a  broken  handle, 
which  I  had  hidden  away,  and  Billy,  in  his 
character  of  assistant,  always  used  the  only 
" Grown  up  broom"  in  the  place.  After 
the  floor  had  been  swept,  the  rug  laid  down, 
the  boxes  covered  and  numerous  pieces  of 
the  Montessori  material  dusted,  which  Mary 
liked  to  do,  we  were  ready  for  our  "Game 
of  Silence." 

The  first  morning  each  child  had  chosen 
from  the  boxes  of  various  heights  the  one 
suited  to  his  size  and  went  to  it  thereafter 
as  a  matter  of  course,  except  Billy,  who  took 
a  camp  chair,  while  I  had  the  one  full-sized 
chair  in  the  room. 

I  was  glad  to  see  that  this  game  of  silence 
appealed  to  American  as  it  does  to  the 
Italian  children,  for  the  former  need  the 
training  in  self-control  and  inhibition  even 
more  than  the  latter.  These  warm  summer 
days  in  the  very  heart  of  nature  seemed 
formed  for  nature  teaching,  so  I  modified 
somewhat  the  game  as  I  saw  it  played  in 
Italy  while  keeping  to  its  spirit.  It  was 
difficult  at  first  for  the  children  to  isolate 
their  senses  by  closing  their  eyes,  but  after 
a  few  days  even  Nancy,  who  had  been 
[218] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

the  most  timid,  sat  in  perfect  quite  on  her 
little  blue-covered  box,  her  eyes  closed,  list- 
ening to  the  sounds  outside.  "  What  do  you 
hear,  children?"  I  would  whisper  softly. 
"The  windmill,"  one  would  say;  "The 
crickets,"  another;  "The  wind,"  a  third; 
and  then  someone  would  distinguish  the 
merry-go-round  in  the  distant  village. 
Then  I  would  softly  call  to  each  in  turn  to 
come  to  me  and  name  with  his  eyes  closed 
the  odour  of  cinnamon,  coffee,  tea,  pine 
needles,  nasturtiums,  or  geraniums  and  so 
on,  which  I  kept  in  little  boxes.  Each  child 
had  his  favorite  odour.  Ira  always  chose 
cinnamon  and  Nancy  tea. 

After  the  children  had  used  the  boards 
for  teaching  rough  and  smooth,  one  would 
often  silently  bring  me  a  rough  stone,  another 
a  smooth  one,  or  a  rough  pine  cone  as  dis- 
tinguished from  a  smooth  pine  needle,  or 
an  oak  leaf  contrasted  with  a  mullein.  I 
also  varied  their  number  exercises  by  giving 
a  whispered  command  to  each  child  to  bring 
me  two  acorns,  or  five  pine  cones,  or  six 
nasturtiums  as  he  or  she  had  the  number 
sense  developed.  This  silence  game  ended 
when  each  child  went  to  the  side  of  the  room 
where  the  regular  Montessori  material  was 
[2191 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

arranged  and  chose  his  or  her  own  game.  I 
found  some  difficulty  at  first  as  a  child  was 
more  apt  to  say  "I  don't  want  to  play  this" 
than  to  choose  some  part  of  the  material, 
or  else  several  would  want  the  same  thing. 
Here,  then,  was  an  opportunity  for  Mon- 
tessori  discipline  and  the  development  of 
the  social  sense,  to  which  most  of  the  chil- 
dren responded  quickly. 

It  was  also  interesting  to  notice  the  choice 
of  each  child.  Ira,  the  little  artist,  wanted 
the  metal  insets  for  design  and  the  coloured 
pencils  or  the  boxes  of  reels  wound  with 
silk  of  many  colours  and  shades.  Mary, 
more  practical,  would  take  the  frames, 
beginning  with  the  buttoning  which  she 
could  do  easily  and  finishing  with  the  bow- 
knot  which  was  very  difficult  for  her. 
Nancy,  the  woman  in  miniature,  loved  to 
play  with  the  fabrics  and  quickly  learned 
the  difference  between  velvet,  silk,  woolen, 
linen  and  cotton;  while  Billy,  after  amusing 
himself  in  a  shamefaced  way  with  the  same 
games  the  younger  children  were  using, 
would  take  the  box  of  script  letters  or  numbers. 
While  he  was  the  only  one  who  had  attended 
school,  he  had  not  had  any  manual  training 
and  was  behind  the  little  ones  in  the  use  of 
[220] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

his  hands.  Ira  announced  gravely  one  day, 
"I  think  I  can  draw  better  if  I  can  have  the 
cinnamon  box  open  so  I  can  smell  it,"  and 
was  quite  disappointed  in  Nancy  because 
she  did  not  care  to  smell  tea  as  she  worked! 

Mary  when  at  home  had  an  inveterate 
habit  of  romancing  so  that  her  family  felt 
that  she  had  no  sense  of  the  difference 
between  fact  and  fiction.  It  was  most  in- 
teresting, therefore,  to  note  that  this  undue 
use  of  her  imagination  would  be  in  abeyance 
during  the  entire  morning  while  she  was 
absorbed  in  doing  something  in  the  right 
way  and  seeing  things  as  they  are.  In  fact, 
I  found  these  games  a  wonderful  help  in 
early  lessons  in  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong. 

John  was  in  some  ways  the  most  inter- 
esting because  the  most  difficult  child  to 
deal  with.  Although  not,  like  Nancy  and 
Ira,  an  only  child,  he  had  much  less  social 
sense,  and  though  he  was  quick  in  his  move- 
ments and  unusually  strong  for  his  age  he 
had  very  little  idea  of  organised  play  and 
delighted  in  merely  making  a  noise.  He 
would  choose  the  Tower,  Big  Stair,  or  Long 
Stair,  but  wished  to  use  them  in  his  own 
way  to  build  a  railroad  track  or  train 
[221] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

of  cars.  Only  gradually  did  he  use  them 
intelligently. 

After  Ira  had  learned  perfectly  the  use  of 
the  frames  for  lacing,  buttoning,  hooking, 
and  so  on,  I  gave  him  a  lesson  in  braiding 
with  three  strands  of  rope  tied  to  a  chair.  A 
better  way  would  be  to  use  three  colours 
just  as  two  colours  are  used  in  tying  the 
bow  knots.  I  found  this  braiding  excellent 
also  for  teaching  left  and  right.  After  he 
had  braided  the  strands  of  rope  together  he 
was  delighted  to  braid  Nancy's  soft  baby 
hair.  In  fact,  the  mothers  told  me  how  the 
children  applied  the  ability  acquired  in  the 
playhouse  after  they  went  home.  They 
put  away  their  playthings  as  they  never 
had  before,  left  things  in  order,  dressed  and 
undressed  themselves  and  showed  in  every 
way  improvement  in  self-control. 

When  the  children  got  restless  I  impro- 
vised some  gymnastics.  For  the  walking 
on  a  line,  which  I  saw  so  much  of  in  Rome,  I 
substituted  the  cracks  in  the  floor  between 
the  wide  old-fashioned  boards,  each  child 
choosing  his  own  crack,  or  I  had  one  child 
lead  the  others  up  and  down  the  stripes  of 
the  Navajo  rug.  Ira  threw  himself  down 
one  morning  on  the  floor  and  pretended  to 
[222] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

swim;  an  ideal  exercise  which  I  was  glad  to 
see  all  of  the  others  attempt.  Much  of  our 
work  was  done  out  of  doors  on  the  grass 
under  the  shade  of  the  oaks  or  in  the  orchard, 
where  a  rug  spread  on  the  grass  and  some 
boxes  would  hold  the  material. 

I  found  a  helpful  extension  of  the  drawing 
with  coloured  pencils  in  making  paper  dolls. 
I  had  made  simple  outlines  of  dolls  of  various 
sizes  and  kinds,  father,  mother,  big  and 
little  sisters  and  brothers,  and  cut  out 
plenty  of  these  from  heavy  white  paper. 
The  children  delighted  to  colour  these  with 
their  pencils,  which  gave  them  the  same 
preparation  for  the  technique  of  writing  as 
the  drawing  of  the  designs  with  the  metal 
insets  and  appealed  as  well  to  the  American 
child's  love  of  making  something  for  use. 
In  the  bird-house  I  have  already  mentioned 
were  five  or  six  rows  of  holes  with  little 
balconies  in  front,  so  each  child  had  his  own 
floor  in  the  doll  apartment-house  and  his 
own  family  of  dolls. 

At  recess,  the  children  dramatised  many 
games  in  the  open  air.  Ira  taught  them  to 
play  "Jack  and  Jill"  and  would  carefully 
select  a  little  rise  of  ground  for  a  hill  and  a 
low  fruit  tree  from  which  to  fill  his  pail  of 
[223] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

water,  and  he,  with  Mary  or  Nancy  as  Jill, 
would  delight  in  their  roll  over  and  over  in 
the  soft  grass.  John  loved  to  turn  one  of 
the  boxes  upside  down  for  a  chicken  coop, 
in  which  he,  Caleb  and  Nancy  would  chirp 
as  little  chicks.  Mary  would  be  the  mother 
hen,  and  Bill  or  Ira  the  rooster,  while  I  was 
expected  to  make  the  various  calls  which 
would  bring  each  to  me. 

Nancy  loved  to  play  "Rock-a-bye  Baby," 
when  she  would  roll  in  great  glee  off  the 
box  at  the  moment  the  bough  was  supposed 
to  break,  or  "Ring  around  a  Rosy,"  which 
she  wanted  over  and  over  again.  Mary 
taught  them  how  to  play  " Little  Boy  Blue." 
Ira  quickly  made  a  horn  of  brown  paper  and 
lay  down  on  a  hillock,  while  the  other 
children  with  Fuji,  the  dog,  were  the  sheep 
and  cows.  After  these  and  other  games  out 
of  doors  the  children  would  have  a  drink  at 
the  windmill,  wash  their  hands  and  go  back 
to  the  playhouse  to  be  quieted  by  another 
game  of  silence  and  then  to  choose  a  Mon- 
tessori  game.  Before  they  went  home  they 
would  prepare  the  playhouse  for  the  next 
day  by  putting  all  the  material  in  order, 
rolling  up  the  rug  and  folding  the  box 
covers. 

[224] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

This  first  experiment  in  a  summer  Mon- 
tessori  school  lasted  only  a  few  weeks  but  I 
am  enthusiastic  in  my  belief  as  to  its  value. 
American  and  English  children  during  the 
long  days  and  weeks  of  the  summer  have 
been  left  too  much  to  unintelligent  nurses 
and  need  the  self-training  and  organised 
intelligent  play  that  such  an  adaptation  of 
the  Montessori  idea  can  give  them.  Even  in 
the  few  weeks  and  short  hours  of  each  day 
the  children  spent  with  me,  the  results 
obtained  were  most  gratifying.  They 
learned  respect  for  and  care  of  the  material, 
would  come  to  it  with  clean  hands,  take  it 
up  carefully  and  replace  one  game  before 
beginning  another.  They  gained  in  self- 
control  and  power  of  inhibition  through  the 
various  games  of  silence.  They  learned  to 
enjoy  intelligent,  organised  play  to  some 
definite  purpose  and  preferred  it  to  the  dis- 
organised activity  which  is  so  common  in 
America.  They  learned  to  enj  oy  their  senses 
through  isolation.  Pleasure  from  the  sense 
of  smell,  hearing  and  touch  revealed  new 
worlds  to  them  as  their  power  of  obser- 
vation developed  spontaneously.  They 
learned  fine  discriminations  of  colour,  size, 
sound  and  weight  as  they  played  with  the 
[225] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

reels  of  coloured  silks,  the  Big  and  Long  Stair, 
sound  boxes  and  woods  of  various  weights. 

In  the  way  of  social  training  they  learned 
the  beginning  of  a  sense  of  responsibility 
in  caring  for  their  own  house,  of  hospitality 
in  welcoming  the  parents  who  visited  it,  of 
pride  in  making  it  pretty  with  flowers,  of 
collective  ownership  in  the  material  which 
they  used  together  and  individual  rights  in 
the  separate  use  of  the  various  games.  They 
gained  in  liberty.  Nancy,  the  most  petted 
and  dependent  of  them  all,  who  had  liter- 
ally lived  with  her  hand  in  that  of  an  older 
person,  went  back  and  forth  alone,  put  up 
and  took  down  her  own  material,  swept  and 
dusted  the  room,  shared  the  games  with  the 
other  children  and  at  home  dressed  and  un- 
dressed herself  and  put  away  her  toys.  She 
learned  very  quickly  the  sandpaper  figures 
from  one  to  five,  which  she  placed  correctly 
on  the  Long  Stair,  and  some  of  the  letters. 
Naturally  graceful  and  deft,  she  was  begin- 
ning to  get  the  technique  of  writing  through 
using  the  metal  insets  and  the  coloured 
pencils. 

She  gave  one  day  an  example  of  the  effect 
of  the  sense  training  on  her  power  to  observe. 
She  had  used  the  circle  in  the  set  of  wooden 
[226] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUMMER 

insets,  tracing  its  outline  with  her  finger  and 
then  the  corresponding  opening  in  the  square. 
She  had  also  traced  its  outline  on  paper  with 
the  metal  inset,  filling  in  the  space  thus  made 
with  her  coloured  pencils.  One  day  as  she 
ran  home  after  her  morning  in  the  play- 
house her  grandmother's  greeting  to  her  was 
"Will  you  join  our  circle,  Nancy?7'  Nancy 
looked  gravely  at  the  group  seated  on  the 
porch,  answered,  "That  is  not  a  circle," 
and  proceeded  to  make  one  with  the  chairs. 

I  could  note  similar  growth  in  all  of  the 
children.  Mary,  who  was  only  at  the  school 
for  ten  days,  gained  in  that  short  time  in 
power  of  attention  and  concentration.  I 
found  she  had  the  brightest,  most  alert  mind 
of  any  of  the  children,  a  "wireless"  ready  to 
take  messages  at  any  moment.  Her  verbal 
memory  was  not  as  strong  as  Nancy's  but 
her  powers  of  association  were  wonderful 
for  so  young  a  child.  Her  imagination  was 
so  overdeveloped  that  the  training  the  ma- 
terial gave  her  was  especially  helpful.  She 
is  an  example  of  the  American  child  whose 
imagination  is  so  active  that  it  will  derive 
great  benefit  from  the  Montessori  material 
as  a  guide  to  truth  and  right. 

I  hope  that  by  another  summer  there  will 
[227] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

be  many  teachers  trained  in  Montessori 
methods  and  in  sympathy  with  its  spirit, 
who  will  open  many  houses  of  play  in  our 
scattered  summer  communities,  where  I 
think  they  will  find  groups  of  parents  ready 
to  co-operate  with  them  and  many  children 
eager  to  become  tenants. 


[228] 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

"The  property  of  the  collectivity." 

I  AM  indebted  for  the  idea  which  started 
my  imagination  to  work  out  the  details  of 
this  chapter,  to  one  of  that  army  of  mothers 
who  have  responded  so  earnestly  and  so 
cordially  to  Dr.  Montessori's  ideas  and  who 
are  in  one  way  and  another  making  practical 
experiments.  The  conditions  in  the  suburb 
where  this  mother  lives  may  be  duplicated 
all  over  the  country  wherever  a  large  city 
has  surrounded  itself  with  small  centers  of 
country  life  with  few  municipal  privileges 
and  no  municipal  institutions  such  as  schools 
or  shops.  These  smaller  suburbs  are,  in 
many  cases,  largely  populated  by  young 
married  people  who  have  only  moderate 
incomes.  They  must  live  near  the  city,  the 
business  or  professional  home  of  the  hus- 
band and  father.  They  prefer  a  real  home, 
with  country  advantages  of  space  and  free- 
dom for  their  children,  to  a  small  apart- 
ment in  a  crowded  city  block.  Many  of 
[229] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSOHI  METHOD 

these  families  live  simply,  perhaps  with 
only  one  maid,  so  the  care  of  the  chil- 
dren falls  largely  upon  the  mother.  Yet 
she  is  young,  full  of  life  and  spirits,  very 
probably  a  college  graduate,  and  the  call  of 
the  city  comes  to  her  with  tempting  force. 
Galleries,  concerts,  theaters,  opera  perhaps, 
shopping,  lectures,  all  these  good  things 
beckon  her  and  are  within  easy  reach,  too, 
for  the  different  railroads  take  care  of  their 
suburban  patrons.  Must  there  be  a  con- 
flict of  desires  here?  Ought  her  hunger  for 
art,  music,  drama,  pretty  things,  to  go  un- 
satisfied because  she  is  torn  between  duty 
to  herself  and  her  children,  because  she  must 
keep  the  little  boy  or  girl  out  in  the  air  or 
take  the  maid's  place  on  her  afternoons  out? 
Or  may  she  with  a  clear  conscience  hie  her- 
self to  the  city  at  not  too  frequent  intervals, 
confident  that  her  children  are  in  good  hands 
while  she  is  gone? 

Dr.  Montessori,  in  her  inaugural  address 
at  the  opening  of  the  first  Casa  dei  Bambini 
looks  with  a  prophet's  vision  into  the  future 
and  sees  "a  socialised  school  in  a  socialised 
house,  the  property  of  the  collectivity," 
where  any  mother,  who  is  forced  by  modern 
conditions  of  wage  earning  to  work  outside 
[230] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

the  home,  may  leave  her  child  secure  in  the 
feeling  that  it  will  have  the  same  care  as  if 
she  were  a  princess,  because  "the  feminine 
duties  have  been  socialised,  the  house  has 
been  transformed  and  now  assumes  many  of 
the  functions  of  the  mother."  Let  us  also 
have  our  vision,  young  mothers  of  the  sub- 
urbs, of  a  " Children's  House"  built  for  the 
purpose  with  money  from  a  common  fund. 
It  is  centrally  situated  with  plenty  of  ground 
about  it  but  it  is  very  simply  built;  it  may 
even  be  a  tent  on  a  large  platform.  It  is 
built  to  conform  to  a  children's  scale;  the 
windows  are  low,  the  grounds  arranged  for 
children's  play  and  children's  gardens.  Out- 
side the  house  are  wide  piazzas  for  use  in 
stormy  weather.  Inside,  one  passes  first 
into  a  central  hall  with  cloak  and  dressing 
rooms  at  the  sides  and  back;  at  the  right 
is  a  large  square  room  with  windows  on 
three  sides.  In  the  corners  are  large  plants, 
in  the  window-boxes  are  flowers;  bird-cages 
hang  in  front  of  some  of  the  windows. 
The  furniture  is  white  enamel  with  a  blue 
line  for  decoration.  Tables  and  chairs  for 
all  the  children  take  up  only  half  the  floor 
space,  and  are  low,  light,  yet  firm.  On  the 
free  floor  space  are  squares  of  felt  carpeting  or 
[231] 


;  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

lines  drawn  for  marching  and  other  gymnastic 
work.  Around  the  walls,  between  the  win- 
dows, are  cases  where  the  material  is  kept, 
and  low  blackboards  and  chests  of  drawers 
where  each  child  may  keep  his  finished  work. 
On  the  walls  above  the  shelves  and  black- 
boards are  some  good  pictures,  the 1 1  Madonna 
of  the  Chair "  for  one.  On  the  shelves  are 
vases  for  flowers  and  artistic  pieces  of  pot- 
tery. On  the  opposite  side  of  the  hall  a 
door  opens  which  leads  into  two  rooms,  each 
one-half  the  size  of  the  schoolroom.  The 
first  is  for  rest  and  recreation.  In  it  are 
little  tables  with  picture-books,  toys  and 
games.  In  one  corner  is  a  piano;  across 
other  corners  are  swung  hammocks,  while 
around  the  walls  between  the  windows  are 
shelves  made  in  compartments,  where  each 
child  may  keep  his  own  favorite  books, 
playthings  or  collections.  Back  of  this 
room  comes  the  lunch  room.  Here  we  find 
square  tables,  so  that  groups  of  children  may 
take  lunch  together,  each  table  having  its 
hostess  for  the  day.  Everything  is  on  the 
same  childish  scale;  the  china,  glass,  silver 
and  linen  are  kept  in  cases  about  the  room, 
to  be  used  each  day  by  the  children  as  the 
tables  are  set.  Still  behind  this  is  a  small 
[232] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

kitchen  where  a  cheery,  kindly  maid  pre- 
pares a  nourishing  soup,  bakes  potatoes  and 
cooks  chops  or  eggs  as  mothers  have  ordered. 

Let  us  follow  in  imagination  for  the  day 
two  little  folk,  whose  mother,  for  any  one 
of  the  reasons  mentioned,  wishes  to  take 
the  nine  o'clock  train  for  the  city  and  stay 
there  for  lunch  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
afternoon.  The  telephone  has  called  up 
the  Montessori  teacher,  employed  by  the 
Mother's  Club  to  which  this  mother  belongs, 
who  has  apartments  on  the  second  floor  of 
the  school  building.  She  has  been  told  that 
Mary  will  come  to  school  to-day  for  the 
afternoon  as  well  as  the  morning,  and  little 
Jack  will  come  with  her.  Will  she  please  ask 
the  maid  to  see  to  their  lunch  as  usual? 
On  the  way  to  the  train,  mother  leaves  Mary 
and  Jack  at  the  " Children's  House"  with 
a  light  heart  and  an  easy  conscience,  and 
proceeds  to  the  city  anticipating  a  day's 
enjoyment. 

It  is  only  a  quarter  before  nine  but  the 
children  are  none  too  early.  Mary  is  a 
frequent  visitor  to  the  morning  session  and 
Jack  an  occasional  one,  so  they  know  exactly 
what  routine  to  follow.  Their  names  are 
printed  above  two  of  the  lockers  in  the  hall 
[233] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

where  they  hang  up  their  hats  and  coats, 
and  then  find  and  put  on  aprons  with  their 
names  embroidered  on  them. 

Then  they  run  into  the  schoolroom  where 
they  find  a  group  of  children  all  busily  em- 
ployed in  preparing  the  room  for  the  day. 
Some  are  wiping  off  the  chairs,  others  the 
tables,  others  the  window-ledges,  tops  of 
shelves  and  cases.  Others  water  the  plants 
and  pick  off  the  dead  leaves.  Still  others 
take  down  some  of  the  material  and  work 
with  it  or  use  the  blackboard  for  writing  or 
numbers.  Meanwhile  the  teacher  has  come 
in  quietly  and  been  lovingly  greeted.  The 
maid,  who  will  help  with  the  lunch  later,  has 
busied  herself  in  the  cloakroom,  helping  the 
very  little  tots  who  require  her  assistance. 

The  clock  on  the  shelf  strikes  nine  and  the 
teacher  takes  her  chair  in  front  of  the  double 
row  of  tables  at  each  of  which  are  two  chairs. 
The  children  run  quietly  to  the  tables,  each 
taking  the  seat  to  which  habit  has  accus- 
tomed him  when  in  collective  order.  Grad- 
ually quiet  succeeds  the  cheerful  noise  of 
happy  children  at  work;  each  child  relaxes, 
sits  quietly  in  his  place,  his  hands  folded.  In 
turn  each  responds  to  the  call  of  his  name  in 
a  low  voice  by  the  teacher.  Softly  the  words 

[234] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

of  a  familiar  hymn  are  heard  and  the  chil- 
dren join  their  voices  to  that  of  the  teacher 
and  then  in  a  childish  prayer  followed  by 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  Then  follows  five  or  ten 
minutes  of  talk  between  teacher  and  pupils, 
who  tell  what  they  saw  on  their  way  home 
or  this  morning  coming  to  school.  Yester- 
day was  a  holiday,  so  many  children  have 
stories  to  tell  of  their  adventures.  Mary 
and  John  visited  the  Bronx  with  their  father 
and  are  eager  to  tell  of  the  wonderful 
elephants  and  the  other  animals  they  saw 
for  the  first  time.  Others  of  the  children 
have  brought  flowers  for  the  schoolroom  or 
plants  for  the  garden. 

After  this  the  teacher  goes  to  the  board 
in  front  of  the  children  and  writes  down 
the  names  of  the  helpers  with  the  duties  of 
each.  John  is  to  lead  the  gymnastic  games. 
Lucy  and  Fred  are  to  start  the  dramatic 
games  in  the  garden  at  recess.  Jane  and 
four  others  are  to  set  the  tables  for  lunch; 
eight  others  are  to  act  as  hostesses;  three 
of  the  little  ones  are  to  spread  out  the  felt 
carpeting.  John,  then,  as  leader,  starts  for 
the  empty  floor  space  painted  thus: 


c 

^^ 

[235] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

followed  by  all  the  children  except  a  few 
who  prefer  to  look  on  for  a  while.  They 
follow  him  up  and  down  the  lines,  first  on 
a  walk,  then  on  a  run;  all  walking  on  the 
balls  of  their  feet  and  running  on  tiptoes, 
waving  their  arms  in  rhythm  and  balance 
with  their  feet.  It  is  now  half-past  nine 
and  the  teacher  goes  to  the  board  and  writes 
" Silence,"  then  draws  the  shades  to  darken 
the  room  and  takes  her  seat.  Again  the 
little  folk  take  their  accustomed  seats  and 
subside  into  absolute  silence  in  the  darkened 
room.  The  teacher,  who  has,  unobserved, 
slipped  to  the  back  of  the  room,  whispers 
the  name  of  each  child,  who  tiptoes  to  her 
without  a  sound.  When  all  are  grouped 
around  her  the  spell  is  broken,  the  shades 
are  raised  and  each  child  goes  to  the  case 
to  get  any  game  he  likes,  provided  he  has 
been  shown  by  the  teacher  its  proper  use. 

Mary  is  greatly  interested  in  a  design  she 
began  a  day  or  two  before  and  had  not 
finished,  so  she  goes  to  the  case  of  drawers 
and  finds  her  paper  and  pencils  in  the  drawer 
which  has  her  name  on  it.  Little  Jack 
wants  one  of  the  solid  insets  which  he 
takes  to  one  of  the  squares  of  felting  on^the 
floor.  After  Mary  has  finished  ;her  design, 
[236] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

which  her  teacher  tells  her  is  the  prettiest 
she  has  ever  made,  she  takes  the  box  of 
sandpaper  letters  and  traces  each  with  her 
fingers,  giving  its  sound  as  she  does  this. 
She  finds  she  has  learned  perfectly  all  the 
sounds,  so  she  takes  the  other  box,  which  has 
letters  in  phonetic  combinations.  Then  she 
gets  out  from  the  case  the  boxes  of  script 
letters  and  rapidly  makes  on  the  floor  near 
where  Jack  is  playing  this  sentence,  "Jack 
came  to  school  to-day,"  and  eagerly  reads 
it  to  him,  as  she  does  so,  sounding  each  word 
carefully  and  distinctly  for  him.  Suddenly 
a  thought  strikes  her:  she  has  just  before 
this  sounded  "came"  with  the  sandpaper 
letters  and  traced  it  with  her  fingers.  She 
runs  to  the  blackboard,  seizes  a  piece  of 
chalk  and  writes  in  legible,  even  script  the 
word,  "came."  It  is  a  revelation  to  her; 
she  has  a  new  accomplishment;  she  can 
write! 

It  is  eleven  o'clock  and  most  of  the  chil- 
dren are  on  their  way  to  the  garden,  but  she 
is  unconscious  of  that  fact,  all  her  energies 
being  bent  on  trying  her  new  powers  as  she 
writes  word  after  word,  until,  wishing  to 
share  her  triumph  with  some  one,  she  sees 
the  room  is  deserted,  so  runs  out  into  the 
[237] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

garden,  calling  gleefully,  "I  can  write,  lean 
write !"  Then  she  remembers  that  her 
name  is  on  the  list  of  those  who  are  to  serve 
at  table,  so  she  must  have  her  lunch  early. 
She  has  time  for  one  game  with  the  other 
children  before  she  goes  into  the  lunch  room, 
where  the  maid  has  placed  at  a  side  table, 
lunch  for  her  and  the  other  little  waitresses. 
While  they  are  eating,  the  group  whose 
duty  and  pleasure  it  is  to  set  the  tables 
come  in  and  proceed  in  a  most  business-like 
fashion.  The  oldest  boy  hands  out  the 
dishes,  four  of  each  for  each  table;  the  girls 
have  laid  the  cloths  and  the  smaller  children 
put  glasses,  plates,  knives,  forks,  spoons, 
in  proper  order.  By  the  time  they  are  ready, 
Mary  and  the  others,  having  finished  lunch, 
don  little  white  caps,  cuffs  and  aprons. 
Two  of  them  run  into  the  schoolroom,  where 
the  children  have  assembled  after  washing 
their  hands,  and  say,  with  a  bow  to  the 
teacher,  "Luncheon  is  served." 

The  children  march  in,  two  by  two,  and 
take  their  seats,  four  at  each  table.  The 
waitresses  bring  in  the  soup,  allowing  each 
child  to  help  himself,  but  no  one  starts  to 
eat  until  each  hostess  has  led  her  table  in  a 
childish  grace,  "Lord,  make  me  thankful 
[238] 


A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBURBS 

for  this  food  and  ready  to  give  to  those 
who  have  it  not." 

Mary  is  kept  pretty  busy;  she  takes  away 
the  soup  tureen  after  she  has  served  the 
children  and  fills  the  glasses  with  milk  or 
water,  then  she  takes  away  the  soup  plates 
and  passes  the  baked  potatoes,  eggs  or 
chops,  as  the  maid  who  has  cooked  them 
directs.  She  has  charge  of  two  tables  and 
fortunately — she  thinks — one  of  them  is 
where  the  teacher  is  sitting,  though  she  is 
not  a  hostess.  After  lunch  she  and  the 
others  make  quick  work  of  washing  and 
putting  away  the  dishes. 

In  the  meantime  Jack  has  caught  sight 
of  one  of  the  hammocks  and  has  curled 
himself  up  for  a  nap.  Many  of  the  children 
went  home  before  lunch  but  those  who, 
like  Mary,  are  there  for  the  day  have  some 
happy  hours  before  them.  The  afternoon 
teacher  has  come  and  with  her  they  have 
musical  training,  work  in  clay,  and  more 
games  with  the  material.  Jack,  rested 
from  his  nap,  has  been  happy  with  a  box  of 
colours,  with  which  he  has  made  a  rug  of 
shaded  blues,  grays  and  pink. 

Four  o'clock  comes  before  they  know  it, 
and  they  are  surprised  to  see  their  mother 
[239] 


A  GUIDE  TO  THE  MONTESSORI  METHOD 

come  in,  her  hands  full  of  packages.  They 
go  happily  home,  each  full  of  the  day's 
incidents. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  suggestion,  like 
that  of  the  Montessori  summer  school,  is  a 
feasible  experiment  and  would  bring  in 
large  social,  educational,  and  ethical  returns 
if  extensively  introduced.  The  need  for 
reform  is  urgent  in  both  cases.  Why  not 
find  a  solution  of  the  problem  in  Montessori? 


THE   END 


[240] 


THE    MONTESSORI    METHOD 

of  Scientific  Pedagogy,  as  Applied  to  Child 
Education    in   "The    Children's    Houses" 


By  MARIA  MONTESSORI,  M.D. 

Translated  by  Anne  E.  George.  With  important 
'revisions  and  additions  by  the  author.  Introduction  by 
Professor  Henry  W.  Holmes,  of  Harvard  University. 

Dr.  Maria  Montessori's  methods  of  child  educa- 
tion have  created  a  sensation,  and  this  book  has 
already  run  through  many  editions  in  English.  It 
is  an  authorized  translation  of  her  Italian  work, 
giving  a  full  exposition  of  her  ideas,  methods  and 
materials,  with  important  new  matter  by  Dr. 
Montessori.  The  book  is  much  more  than  an 
educational  treatise,  being  full  of  inspiration  and 
interest  for  the  general  reader. 

Among  the  foundation  stones  of  the  system  are 
the  development  of  individuality  in  the  child  in 
ways  quite  different  from  the  usual  methods,  and 
the  careful  training  of  the  senses  as  a  basis  for 
future  mental  associations.  When  Montessori's 
pupils  are  transferred  to  the  graded  schools,  they 
are  better  prepared  in  the  required  subjects  than 
older  pupils  of  the  regular  system,  and  have  in 
addition  a  poise,  a  self-control,  an  accuracy  and  an 
initiative  which  fit  them  for  rapid  advancement. 

Nothing  like  a  conception  of  the  method  can  be 
gained  except  from  the  book  itself.  Yet,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  system  is  the  product  of  years  of  scientific  ex- 
periment, that  it  is  based  not  on  abstract  theories,  but 
on  a  study  of  the  nature  of  the  individual  child,  and 
that  its  purpose  is  to  develop  self-dependence  and  to 
encourage  the  growth  of  strong,  complete  human  be- 
ings, physically,  mentally  and  morally. 

With  many  illustrations .    Price  $1 . 75  net;  postpaid  $1 . 90 
Publishers      FREDERICK   A.  STOKES   COMPANY      New  York 


PEDAGOGICAL  ANTHROPOLOGY 


By  MARIA  MONTESSORI,  M.D. 
Translated  by  Frederic  Taber  Cooper 

The  translator  writes  of  this  book:  "The 
author's  chief  purpose  is  to  awaken  educators  to  a 
consciousness  of  their  heavy  responsibility  for  the 
physical  and  moral  welfare  of  future  generations. 
The  one  place  where  every  human  being  is  for  a 
number  of  critical  formative  years  within  reach  of 
organized  training  is  the  school;  the  only  way  that 
teachers  may  fit  themselves  to  make  the  most  of 
their  opportunity  is  by  learning  to  know  the  pupils 
through  a  knowledge  of  anthropology,  and  by 
applying  such  knowledge  to  practical  pedagogy. 

"The  author  does  not  pretend  to  have  written  an 
exhaustive  treatise;  she  has  in  many  cases  merely  indicated 
paths  of  progress;  but  she  has  invariably  done  so  with  such 
luminous  flashes  of  suggestiveness  as  to  awaken  not  only  in 
educators,  but  in  the  average  reader  who  chances  to  fall  under 
her  spell,  an  answering  enthusiasm  for  her  unquenchable 
faith  in  the  infinite  possibilities  of  human  development  and 
the  eventual  perfectionment  of  the  race." 

Dr.  Montessori  defines  "Pedagogical  Anthropology"  as 
"A  method  that  systematizes  the  positive  study  of  the 
pupil  for  pedagogic  purposes,  with  a  view  to  estab- 
lishing philosophic  principles  of  educatfon.  As  soon  as 
anthropology  annexes  the  adjective,  'pedagogic,'  it 
should  base  its  scope  upon  the  fundamental  conception 
of  a  possible  betterment  of  man,  founded  upon  the 
positive  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  human  life.  In  con- 
trast to  general  anthropology  which,  starting  from  a 
basis  of  positive  data  founded  on  observation,  mounts 
toward  philosophic  problems  regarding  the  origin  of  man, 
pedagogic  anthropology,  starting  from  an  analogous 
basis  of  observation  and  research,  must  rise  to  philo- 
sophic conceptions  regarding  the  future  destiny  of  man 
from  the  biological  point  of  view." 

Cloth,  8vo,  illustrated,  $3.50  net;  postpaid,  $3.75. 


Publishers       FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY       New  York 

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